Tag Archives: Bionic

Mind Over Food

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Mind Power is potent and it can manipulate or simulate circumstances that may seem fictitious and surreal. Based on this premise is the plate and glass combo of the ‘SET TO MIMIC’ tableware. The idea is to put a microchip in us, which interacts with our brain cells so that it can register smells, tastes and textures of our favorite food. When bland or ‘health foods’ are placed on the plate, the microchip manipulates our senses to feel as if we are eating our favorite food.

For example, you could be eating a plate of lettuce, but ‘SET TO MIMIC’ makes you feel as if you are eating a cheeseburger! This concept is a part of the semi-finalists shortlisted by the 2014 Electrolux Design Lab Competition.

Designer: Sorina Răsteanu

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(Mind Over Food was originally posted on Yanko Design)

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Princeton crafts a 3D printed bionic ear with super hearing, creepy looks

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Princeton crafts a 3D printed bionic ear with super hearing, creepy looks

Scientists have toyed with printing ear implants for ages, but they've usually been more cosmetic than functional. Princeton has just developed a bionic ear that could transcend those mere replacements to offer a full-on upgrade. Rather than seed hydrogel with cells and call it a day, the researchers 3D printed a blend of calf cells, hydrogel and an integrated, coiled antenna made from silver nanoparticles. The frankly spooky project doesn't resemble a natural ear all that closely, but it merges organic and synthetic more gracefully than inserting a chip into an existing implant. It can also expand hearing beyond normal human levels: the experimental version picks up radio waves, for example. Although the ear is just the first step on a long path toward natural-feeling bionics, it already has us wondering if we'll be actively seeking out replacement body parts in the future... not that we're about to go all Van Gogh to get them.

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Via: Phys.org

Source: Nano Letters

A Silky Disposition

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You have to hand it to Samsung and Apple’s forward thinking design team that made it acceptable for us to have phones that are a cross between a tablet and well … a phone! While the new forms give us a gawky looking device, The Bionic Silkworm Inspired Phone takes us back to the basic shape of an ergonomic handset. Designed to make both children and the elderly comfortable with its use, the LED display and infrared sensor technology make it as tech-savvy as it gets. So which will you prefer… a phablet or a phone?

Designers: Huang Lu, Chen Haiyan & Xiao W

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(A Silky Disposition was originally posted on Yanko Design)

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Touch Bionics’ latest ‘i-limb’ offers a powered rotating thumb, smartphone controls

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Touch Bionics' latest 'ilimb' offers a powered rotating thumb, smartphone controls

Touch Bionics' i-limb prosthetic hand has advanced quite a bit in recent years, adding features like Bluetooth connectivity and upgraded fingers. Now the company has made available its latest revision, the i-limb ultra revolution, which offers powered thumb rotation for some added dexterity, as well as a new "biosim" app (iOS-only for now) that gives the wearer quick access to 24 different grip patterns in addition to diagnostic and training modes. Of course, the hand isn't only controlled using a phone; as with previous models, it relies on muscle signals to shift into different pre-set patterns, which let the wearer perform a wide variety of actions. You can get a glimpse of some of those capabilities in the video after the break.

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Source: Touch Bionics

Swiss bionic hand offers true sensations through the nervous system

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Swiss bionic hand offers true sensations through the nervous system

Those wearing bionic hands and similar prostheses often suffer a frustrating disconnect when they can touch an object but can't feel it, even if they're using direct neural control. The École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne and allies in Project TIME have developed a hand that could clear that psychological hurdle. The design implants electrodes directly in key nerves that not only allow motor input, but deliver real sensory feedback from the artificial appendage -- including needle pokes, much to the test subject's chagrin. An early trial (seen above) kept the enhanced hand separate from the wearer and was limited to two sensations at once, but an upcoming trial will graft the hand on to a tester's arm for a month, with sensations coming from across much of the simulated hand. EPFL hopes to have a fully workable unit ready to test in two years' time, which likely can't come soon enough for amputees wanting more authentic physical contact.

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Source: Project TIME, The Independent

Inhabitat’s Week in Green: Dyson Spheres, bladeless wind turbines and airless bike tires

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Each week our friends at Inhabitat recap the week's most interesting green developments and clean tech news for us -- it's the Week in Green.

DNP Inhabitat's Week in Green TKTKTK

Over at Inhabitat, the election hangover is finally starting to wear off, and we've been looking forward to see what President Obama's re-election could mean for clean tech and renewable energy. The first bit of good news came on election night, when Obama called for action on climate change. That's all well and good, but what does it actually mean? For starters, it could mean the EPA enforcing stricter regulations. But the thing that most people in the renewable energy sector will be watching is whether the wind energy tax credit is renewed before it expires at the end of the year.

Continue reading Inhabitat's Week in Green: Dyson Spheres, bladeless wind turbines and airless bike tires

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Inhabitat's Week in Green: Dyson Spheres, bladeless wind turbines and airless bike tires originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 11 Nov 2012 08:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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BeBionic3 Prosthetic Gives You a Hand That Luke Skywalker Would Want

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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.

bebionic3 bionic 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]


Thought-Controlled Bionic Leg Helps Man Climb 103 Floors of Willis (Sears) Tower

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Advancements in biotechnology continue to amaze me. We’re rapidly approaching the point where human/cyborg combinations are becoming more and more plausible, as is evidenced by this recent accomplishment by the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago. This past sunday, a man wearing the first “thought-controlled bionic leg” used the limb to help him ascend 103 floors of the skyscraper formerly known as the Sears Tower.

thought controlled bionic leg 1

This past Sunday, 31-year-old Zac Vawter made history by climbing countless stairs inside the iconic Chicago skyscraper, all with the help of this incredible bionic leg. This mechanical and technological marvel is controlled by Vawter’s own neurons, and was developed by the Rehabilitation Institute’s Center for Bionic Medicine, and partially-funded by the U.S. Department of Defense. You can see Zac and his amazing bionic leg in action in the video clip below:

The leg actually interacts with Zac’s nerve impulses, allowing him to climb stairs much more easily than he could with an ordinary prosthetic leg. Vawter lost his leg after a motorcycle accident back in 2009, and his trial of the leg will help him and potentially many others with disabilities to walk again.


Nano-machines built to mimic human muscle could help power cyborgs, keep the OSI budget down

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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.

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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.

Permalink PhysOrg  |  sourceCNRS (Translated)  | Email this | Comments

Droid Bionic finally gets an ICS update as everyone else moves on to Jelly Bean

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Droid Bionic finally gets an ICS update as everyone else moves on to Jelly Bean

After nearly a year of suffering with Gingerbread, Droid Bionic owners who haven't given up on their phone will finally be rewarded with that long-awaited ICS update; the rollout starts October 19th, according to Verizon. Those who get it will receive a new customizable launch bar, a direct access lock screen, enhanced notifications, Motorola's SmartActions app, Face Unlock, easier multitasking, and many other goodies most Android owners have enjoyed for awhile now. It looks like Motorola Mobility actually made good on some of its promises to fix the handset that has suffered a number of different problems since its launch (which itself took almost nine months from the initial announce date). However, now that Jelly Bean has taken over as the firmware of choice with no word yet if that'll come to the Droid Bionic, we wonder if it's too little, too late.

Update: We've learned from the comments, Motorola's owner support forum and its own Facebook page that the company is planning on rolling out Jelly Bean to the Droid Bionic "in the coming months" so don't lose hope just yet, Bionic faithful.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

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Droid Bionic finally gets an ICS update as everyone else moves on to Jelly Bean originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 19 Oct 2012 18:18:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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