Hasta La Gadget!

Prosthetic limbs are getting more and more advanced. Between Oscar “Blade Runner” Pistorius, also known as “the fastest man on no legs”, and mind-controlled mechanical legs, it’s only a matter of time before full cybernetic replacement body parts are available. UK-based BeBionic is helping to advance this cause by giving amputees a very functional, and very cool-looking prosthetic hand.

The BeBionic3 is myoelectric prosthetic hand that uses residual neuro-muscular signals from its wearer’s own muscles to operate some very precise functions. This hand is almost as functional as Luke Skywalkers’s hand in The Empire Strikes Back. It allows amputees to write with a pen, delicately hold glasses, bottles and even crack eggs.

It has 14 hand positions and grips, and also comes in a skin-tone glove so that cyborgs can blend in with regular folk.

[via DVice]

Have you ever wondered whether we will be able to reach the level of medical advancement such as found in I, Robot and the Star Wars universe? Body parts that are replaced with bionic segments which not only offer the ability to function in an even more efficient manner compared to the original, and yet is far longer lasting. Perhaps mankind has just taken another step closer to such an age, where research engineers over at Vrije Universiteit Brussel have managed to develop a new powered transtibial prosthesis that is capable of mimicking natural ankle movement, while ensuring that it uses energy in an efficient manner. Rather they relying on powerful motors which start and stop with every step, this particular new system will run a small electrical motor non-stop, ensuring that it keeps stretching a rubber band, which will result in energy that the bionic foot can use as a source of motive power.

Through the act of lowering the overall energy requirement of prostheses, this means that you need not use more batteries, and smaller batteries are always a good thing as it ensures that the overall weight of the device remains lowered. Not only that, being smaller would mean it is more quiet, while more efficient motors also help simplify design as well as implementation purposes.

Called the AMP-Foot 2.0, it relies on a spring that is called the plantar flexion (PF) spring, helping accumulate energy from the dorsiflexion phase of stance while the actuator is actually injecting energy into another spring, where the latter is known as the push-off (PO) spring – and that happens during the complete stance phase. A locking system will see energy stashed in the PO spring, before heel off (HO) occurs, which remains within the system for a release so that a push-off can happen. We do wonder just how much something like this is going to cost when it becomes publicly available.

Press Release
[ Robotic ankle makes a splash copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]

At today’s prices, building a Six Million Dollar Man would cost around $31 million. Of course, being a TV show means the Office of Scientific Intelligence doesn’t have too many bionic employees, but that might not the case in the future. Nicolas Giuseppone and a team at the Université de Strasbourg and CNRS have created thousands of nano-machines to replicate the movement of human muscle fibers. Weaving them all together, the machines are able to make a coordinated contraction movement that stretches and contracts. For the moment, the supramolecular polymers can only stretch a matter of micrometers, but in the future they could be used to create artificial muscles, small robots or even materials that can move. Hopefully it’ll also give us the power to leap tall buildings, so we’ll be outside practicing our sound effects.

Filed under: Science, Alt

Nano-machines built to mimic human muscle could help power cyborgs, keep the OSI budget down originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 24 Oct 2012 13:26:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The only upgrades available for our puny human hands are gaming controller calluses, but if you’re sporting an i-LIMB digits hand prosthesis, you can now grab a set of improved fingers. Touch Bionics’ “smaller, lighter and more anatomically accurate” appendages are now available worldwide, as well as a new wrist-band unit which houses all the necessary computing power and juice for their function. Best of all, these developments allow more people to adopt the tech than the previous generation, including those with more petite hands or finger amputations closer to the knuckle. We don’t know how much it’ll cost for a fresh set, but we’ll let health agencies and insurance companies deal with that part. With these upgrades and RSL Steeper’s latest offering, it won’t be long before our flesh-based variants are meager in comparison.

Continue reading Touch Bionics releases new prosthetic fingers, flips the old ones the bird

Filed under: Misc, Robots, Wearables

Touch Bionics releases new prosthetic fingers, flips the old ones the bird originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 29 Sep 2012 03:26:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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With a star-crossed history that includes a lengthy delay, mysterious sounds and other issues, Motorola’s Droid Bionic has had a bit of a checkered past. Motorola, however, is apparently aware of Droid Bionic owners’ woes and is working on a plan to make things right. At least that’s what Punit Soni, VP of Product at Motorola Mobility, is promising owners of the device on his Google+ page. Faced with complaints ranging from the Bionic’s locked bootloader to its delayed ICS update, a contrite Soni admitted that Droid Bionic owners got a “raw deal” and promised their feedback “will not fall on deaf ears.” He then said that the company has a plan for the device and that he is “currently solidifying things to ensure we can publish it, commit and follow up.” Soni did not provide specifics on what those plans are though you have to admit that the guy’s candor about the Bionic’s issues is refreshing. In the meantime, the phone’s ICS upgrade is now slated to roll out in Q4. Bionic owners who want to add their proverbial two cents to the conversation can hit up the source link below.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile

Motorola feels Droid Bionic owners’ pain, promises to fix things originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 22 Sep 2012 20:07:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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