What do you think? China is doing it. The West is going to have to keep up. Have you seen the Netflix series Altered Carbon? It’s like that.
A U.S. Army video shows its concept of the soldier of the future. At first glance, it looks like it will only be a better-equipped soldier.
For now, cyborgs exist only in fiction, but the concept is becoming more plausible as science progresses. And now, researchers are reporting in ACS’ Nano Letters that they have developed a proof-of-concept technique to “tattoo” living cells and tissues with flexible arrays of gold nanodots and nanowires. With further refinement, this method could eventually be used to integrate smart devices with living tissue for biomedical applications, such as bionics and biosensing.
Advances in electronics have enabled manufacturers to make integrated circuits and sensors with nanoscale resolution. More recently, laser printing and other techniques have made it possible to assemble flexible devices that can mold to curved surfaces. But these processes often use harsh chemicals, high temperatures or pressure extremes that are incompatible with living cells. Other methods are too slow or have poor spatial resolution. To avoid these drawbacks, David Gracias, Luo Gu and colleagues wanted to develop a nontoxic, high-resolution, lithographic method to attach nanomaterials to living tissue and cells.
The team used nanoimprint lithography to print a pattern of nanoscale gold lines or dots on a polymer-coated silicon wafer. The polymer was then dissolved to free the gold nanoarray so it could be transferred to a thin piece of glass. Next, the gold was functionalized with cysteamine and covered with a hydrogel layer, which, when peeled away, removed the array from the glass. The patterned side of this flexible array/hydrogel layer was coated with gelatin and attached to individual live fibroblast cells. In the final step, the hydrogel was degraded to expose the gold pattern on the surface of the cells. The researchers used similar techniques to apply gold nanoarrays to sheets of fibroblasts or to rat brains. Experiments showed that the arrays were biocompatible and could guide cell orientation and migration.
Robots based on soft materials are often better at replicating the appearance, movements and abilities of both humans and animals. While there are now countless soft robots, many of these are difficult to produce on a large-scale, due to the high cost of their components or their complex fabrication process.
Researchers at University of Coimbra in Portugal recently developed a new soft robotic hand that could be more affordable and easier to fabricate. Their design, introduced in Cyborg and Bionic Systems, integrates soft actuators with an exoskeleton, both of which can be produced using scalable techniques.
Continue reading “Scientists create soft and scalable robotic hand based on multiple materials” »
Chinese company Fourier Intelligence says it plans to manufacture 100 of its GR-1 general-purpose humanoid robots by the end of 2023, making the remarkable promise that they’ll be able to carry nearly their own weight. They also have a unique focus.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYhycqEsWDk
Fourier seems to specialize mainly in rehabilitation technologies; its RehabHub platform offers a series of integrated physical therapy devices for treating various issues, from wrist strength games to hand and finger grip training, all the way up to lower-body exoskeletons for training people to walk, sit, stand, balance and climb stairs.
Continue reading “GR-1 general-purpose humanoid robot will carry nearly its own weight” »
What happens when humans begin combining biology with technology, harnessing the power to recode life itself.
What does the future of biotechnology look like? How will humans program biology to create organ farm technology and bio-robots. And what happens when companies begin investing in advanced bio-printing, artificial wombs, and cybernetic prosthetic limbs.
Continue reading “GENETIC ENGINEERING & BIOTECHNOLOGY in the Future (2077 & Beyond)” »
The Apogee+ exoskeleton aims to help support caregivers in healthcare settings. | Source: German Bionic.
German Bionic has unveiled the Apogee+, a powered exoskeleton for the North American healthcare market. Apogee+ aims to merge cutting-edge robots with research-backed, data-driven insights to better support caregivers.
Apogee+ is designed to provide personal lift assistance to caregivers, and it specifically addresses concerns with care worker safety and job satisfaction. This is German Bionic’s first foray into the healthcare space, and the mover underscores its success in industrial settings.
BEIJING, Aug. 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ — On August 22, the 2023 World Robot Conference (WRC), which was held in Beijing with the theme of “Spurring Innovation for the Future,” came to a big success. The 2023 World Robotics Expo and the 2023 World Robot Contest took place at the same time, bringing together about 160 robotics companies and scientific research institutions from around the globe, and showcasing close to 600 advanced technologies and products, over 320 representatives from international organizations, academicians, renowned experts, and entrepreneurs at home and abroad have been invited to attend.
As a general robotics company, Dreame Technology took center stage for the first time at the World Robot Conference. It unveiled a wide range of robots, including general-purpose humanoid robots, consumer-grade bionic quadruped robots, industrial-grade quadruped robots, wireless Robotic Pool Cleaner, commercial food delivery robots and floor-cleaning robots. This range highlighted Dreame’s broad competitiveness across the fields of R&D for robotic ecosystems and technologies, supply chains, production and manufacturing, talent development, and commercialization.
New bionic hand with better move of fingers.
Successful testing of the bionic hand has already been conducted on a patient who lost his arm above the elbow.
In a world first, surgeons and engineers have developed a new bionic hand that allows users with arm amputations to effortlessly control each finger as though it was their own body.
Continue reading “New bionic hand allows amputees to effortlessly control fingers” »
How would it feel to control objects with your mind? Or hear colors? Or maybe even live forever? Well, if you want to find out, all you have to do is become a cyborg. How would being part machine affect us? Would it cause a greater divide between the rich and the poor? And is this the next step in human evolution?
Transcript and sources: https://whatifshow.com/what-if-we-become-cyborgs/
Transhumanism — advocates strongly for humans to develop and make widely available sophisticated technologies that enhance human physiology and intellect greatly. In layman’s terms, transhumanists would like for human beings to become cyborgs; cybernetic organisms.
As such, transhumanist concepts feature greatly in science fiction. Cyborgs are commonly seen in all forms of science fiction media…
Continue reading “Transhumanism: Will Humans Become Cyborgs?” »
