Archive for the ‘cyborgs’ category: Page 124
Sep 12, 2015
This mind-controlled prosthetic robot arm lets you actually feel what it touches
Posted by Shailesh Prasad in categories: biotech/medical, cyborgs, electronics, neuroscience, robotics/AI
https://youtube.com/watch?v=bwz9SPMDO2k
The US government said today (Sept. 11) that it’s successfully made a Luke Skywalker-like prosthetic arm that allows the wearer to actually feel things.
At a conference in July, the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) presented the achievements it’d had to date in building a robot arm that can be controlled by a human brain. A little over two months later, the agency has announced at another conference that it’s managed to update the technology to give the wearer the feeling of actually being able to sense things with the arm.
Sep 12, 2015
Ras Labs Is Testing Futuristic Muscle Material That Could Make Robots Feel More Human
Posted by Shailesh Prasad in categories: biotech/medical, cyborgs, materials, robotics/AI, space
Synthetics startup Ras Labs is working with the International Space Station to test “smart materials” that contract like living tissue. These “electroactive” materials can expand, contract and conform to our limbs just like human muscles when a current moves through them – and they could be used to make robots move and feel more human to the touch.
Ras Labs co-founder Lenore Rasmussen accidentally stumbled upon the synthetic muscle material years ago while mixing chemicals in the lab at Virginia Tech. The experiment turned out to be with the wrong amount of ingredients, but it produced a blob of wobbly jelly that Rasmussen noticed contracted and expanded like muscles when she applied an electrical current.
It would be years later when Rasmussen’s cousin nearly lost his foot in a farming accident that she would start to employ that discovery to robotic limbs and space travel. The co-founder thought her cousin might lose his foot and started researching prosthetics.
Sep 9, 2015
Watch this little girl unwrap her 3D printed prosthetic arm!
Posted by Albert Sanchez in categories: 3D printing, biotech/medical, cyborgs
Sep 5, 2015
Thanks to 3D printing, prosthetics can now be built faster and way cheaper than ever before
Posted by Lily Graca in categories: 3D printing, biotech/medical, cyborgs
Sep 5, 2015
Controversial Philosopher Says Man And Machine Will Fuse Into One Being
Posted by Scott Davis in categories: biotech/medical, cyborgs, engineering, genetics, singularity
The human being — especially in so-called “advanced civilizations” — is the animal that molds itself into its own pet.
Peter Sloterdijk is Germany’s most controversial thinker and media theorist. He has dared to challenge long-established divisions in traditional philosophy of body and soul, subject and object, culture and nature. His 1999 lecture on “Regulations for the Human Park,” in which he argued that genetic engineering was a continuation of human striving for self-creation, stirred up a tempest in a country known for Nazi eugenics. At the same time, he himself has concluded that “the taming of man has failed” as civilization’s potential for barbarism has grown ever greater. His seminal books include “Critique of Cynical Reason” and his trilogy, “Spheres.”
At a recent Berggruen Center on Philosophy and Culture symposium on humans and technology at Cambridge University’s St. John’s School of Divinity, The WorldPost discussed with Sloterdijk the end of borders between humans and technology, the cloud, singularity and identity in the age of globalization.
Continue reading “Controversial Philosopher Says Man And Machine Will Fuse Into One Being” »
Sep 3, 2015
Completely paralyzed man voluntarily moves his legs, UCLA scientists report
Posted by Sean Brazell in categories: biotech/medical, cyborgs, robotics/AI
Mark Pollock and trainer Simon O’Donnell (credit: Mark Pollock)
A 39-year-old man who had been completely paralyzed for four years was able to voluntarily control his leg muscles and take thousands of steps in a “robotic exoskeleton” device during five days of training, and for two weeks afterward, UCLA scientists report.
This is the first time that a person with chronic, complete paralysis has regained enough voluntary control to actively work with a robotic device designed to enhance mobility.
Aug 21, 2015
Passive exoskeleton to lighten the load for soldiers
Posted by Shailesh Prasad in category: cyborgs
Soldiers often have to carry over 100 lb (45 kg) of gear in a backpack, for several hours at a time. That’s why engineers at the Australia’s Department of Defence have developed a new exoskeleton, that diverts two thirds of pack weight directly to the ground.
Aug 21, 2015
Kid Gets Awesome New Bionic Hand, Reminds Us Not Everything is Garbage
Posted by Albert Sanchez in categories: cyborgs, transhumanism
https://youtube.com/watch?v=fAq7n2k5FkA
The stock market is tanking, North and South Korea are on the brink of war, and a cartoon character from a dystopian future is the most popular candidate for US President at the moment. But don’t despair. While most things are garbage, there are some things in the world that aren’t. Like this adorable kid who just got his own high-tech bionic hand.
Nine-year-old Josh Cathcart was often bullied in school for having just one hand. But he’s about to become the coolest kid in school, thanks to his new i-limb, developed by a company called Touch Bionics. The hand can be programmed via an iPad app.
Continue reading “Kid Gets Awesome New Bionic Hand, Reminds Us Not Everything is Garbage” »
Aug 20, 2015
Here’s A Book That Adds a Fascinating New Dimension to Posthuman Space Opera
Posted by Sean Brazell in categories: cyborgs, entertainment, space
By now, the stories of humans transcending their limitations in space have become pretty much ubiquitous. We’ve had space cyborgs, space immortals, and tons of other posthumans in space. But the new novel Edge of Dark by Brenda Cooper still represents a fascinating new approach. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00?tag=lifeboatfound-20…
