Bi+onics

Bionics is formally defined as the study of mechanical systems that function like living organisms or parts of living organisms. The word itself comes from a combination of life (bi) and electronics (onics). This concept was first widely popularized in the 1970s series The Six Million Dollar Man. After Steve Austin, a pilot, is injured in a crash, he becomes superhuman by rebuilding his body with bionic arms, eyes, and legs. Of course, modern bionics is focused on restoring human ability, rather than enhancing it to a superhuman level. Joseph Pancrazio from the National Institute of Neurological Disease and Stroke explains that to him, bionics is about "restoration."

Richard Lipschutz works at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago. He explains that the basic technology of human prosthetic arms hasn't changed dramatically in the last 100 years. Although materials are different, the basic idea of "hooks and hinges moved by cables or motors, controlled by levers" has not changed much. The main issue with these prosthesis is that they have to be controlled by other parts of the body, which is very unnatural. For example, a prosthetic arm may be controlled by pressing a small lever with your chin. This can be very awkward, and lead to other pain. Many times, amputees give up on these devices.

Todd Kuiken is a biomedical engineer at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, and he is responsible for the "bionic arm" that Amanda Kitts has been testing (previous post). He tackled a major problem in neural prostheses: being able to connect the electric impulse from the nerve endings to the prostheses. He can't simply connect a computer cable to the nerve to pick up the electrical signal. This is dangerous to the nerve, and introduces and extremely high risk of infection. Kuiken found his missing connection in muscles. The contraction of a muscle provides the necessary amplification of the electrical signal from the nerve necessary for the bionic arm to be able to recognize it. To use this, he had to develop a technique to "reroute" the damaged nerves to other muscles. In Amanda's case, these were the upper-arm muscles.

If you search "bionics" on google, you over 527,000 websites. If you then go to google images, you will find over 50,000 images, ranging from cartoons to human prosthetics. I think we have reached a point where the average person is not only familiar with the concept of bionics, but has also formulates at least a basic opinion on the topic. I asked about 10 people among my family and friends, and the general opinion seemed to be that it is a concept in the future. When I asked them if they ever worry about bionics and its potential, everyone had the same answer: not in my lifetime. As we have discussed in these blogs, the greatest advances in bionics have been in the medical field. Restoring human motion to people who have lost it due to disease or war has become the primary focus of bionics. However, as this technology comes closer and closer to a perfect imitation of human functionality, how long will it be before all these parts are assembled into a "human" robot?

The future possibilities of bionics do not all have to be scary and reminiscent of Terminator. There may be very useful applications to these human androids. What if we were able to create these robots that instead of being artificially intelligent, could behave like an avatar and mimic our motions. They could then potentially replace our soldiers at war and turn a battle of bloodshed into a battle of technology (and money). This could revolutionize our world and save many lives in the process.