Robotic Prosthetics

ndhill

Feb 24 2005, 04:22 PM

I found a rather interesting article at one and only fark.com this morning. click here to read it. Anyway, the prospect of machines that can interface with your brain definitely a weird thing for me. I suppose theoretically that since the human brain functions by interpreting and sending electrical signals that would just be a matter of creating a compatible computing language as well as being able to match the brain's speed. It seems a bit sci-fi-ish so it’s kind of strange to even be talking about it as a possibility that could be realized in the near future. It’s definitely interesting to think of the implications.

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tattoopunk

Feb 24 2005, 04:35 PM

Anyone else familiuar with Ghost in the Shell? But seriously, this is amazing, and a little scarry at the same time, were one step closes to becoming cybernetic beings. What about the principle that a machine will last longer than a human body? If theye were able to keep the brain alive wouldn't that make extending life to 200 or more years plasable? We have to also look at how the technology could be abused. It's a great idea, though has its complications.

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firedoor

Feb 24 2005, 10:37 PM

i've heard of ghost ina shell but can't rember where, a web comic springs to mind, but that could just be becuase i have been working on mine. Anyway i saw a thing a little while ago where man had to move his stump to click buttons to move his arm, but his hand was controlled by his nerves. it was slowly but you saw him serving pints, it was kinda cool. And yeah the idea of a part human part machine does freak me out a little.

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tattoopunk

Feb 24 2005, 11:16 PM

Ghost in the Shell is a two part anime movie and television series revolving around a future where a human barin can be put into an prostecic frame and continue to live like a normal human with out being easilly reconized.

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lasto i glemyr

Feb 25 2005, 04:24 AM

I remember seeing a special on TV about experiments in robotic prosthetics.

In one of the experiments they did, they implanted a wireless chip into a rat that would interface with its brain. The chip was linked to a computer. What they did is they put the rat in a maze and set it loose. At first, the rat was completely lost, but then the man on the computer (somehow) began to feed the rat directions through the implanted chip.

So clearly interfacing with the brain is possible, but there are a lot more advances to be made in the field before we see people walking around with a robotic prosthesis.

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