/ News
Artificial limb powered by rocket fuel
Xiangrong Shen (right), associate professor of mechanical engineering, discusses a prototype of a below-knee prosthesis with graduate student Molei Wu (left).
Just wait until Paralympian Oscar Pistorius gets his hands on this: A team of mechanical engineers has created an prosthetic leg that is powered by a special type of liquid fuel called a monopropellant -- the same kind of fuel that gives rockets their thrust. The new device could usher in the next generation of prosthetics -- powerful and lightweight artificial limbs that will look and function more like the real thing.
Somewhat surprisingly, the human ankle supplies more energy to the process of walking than both the hip and the knee. Yet most standard below-knee artificial limbs do not produce sufficient power to support an amputee's walk. And indeed, today's devices only dissipate energy, or store and reuse energy in walking. This means that amputees have to put greater stress on their joints and expend more energy when they try to walk or run.
Looking to change this, UoA's Xiangrong Shen, along with researchers from the Georgia Institute of Technology, has developed a prosthetic limb that uses monopropellant -- an energy-storing medium that decomposes upon contact with certain catalysts (monopropellants don't need to be mixed with other gases to be used as fuel). The resulting energy allows for the powering of a lightweight artificial leg that can be used on a regular basis.
In conjunction with this, Shen has also developed a sleeve muscle actuator, what is an artificial muscle that replaces the motor used in some alternative prostheses. But unlike other prosthetic actuators, Shen's sleeve muscle is more powerful, lighter, more compact -- and its elastic properties make it more like a real biological skeletal muscle.
The next step for the researchers will be to ensure safety and reliability of the device, and to explore new ways of dealing with fuel storage, exhaust management (I wonder if it has a muffler), thermal insulation, and heat management. They're also hoping to make the device look and function just like a regular human leg.
But given that they've essentially created a rocket fuel-powered leg, it's not a stretch to suggest that future iterations will be significantly stronger and more robust than the real thing.
Source: http://news.discovery.com/tech/artificial-limb-rocket-propellant-121113.html
/ About us
Founded by Russian entrepreneur Dmitry Itskov in February 2011 with the participation of leading Russian specialists in the field of neural interfaces, robotics, artificial organs and systems.
The main goals of the 2045 Initiative: the creation and realization of a new strategy for the development of humanity which meets global civilization challenges; the creation of optimale conditions promoting the spiritual enlightenment of humanity; and the realization of a new futuristic reality based on 5 principles: high spirituality, high culture, high ethics, high science and high technologies.
The main science mega-project of the 2045 Initiative aims to create technologies enabling the transfer of a individual’s personality to a more advanced non-biological carrier, and extending life, including to the point of immortality. We devote particular attention to enabling the fullest possible dialogue between the world’s major spiritual traditions, science and society.
A large-scale transformation of humanity, comparable to some of the major spiritual and sci-tech revolutions in history, will require a new strategy. We believe this to be necessary to overcome existing crises, which threaten our planetary habitat and the continued existence of humanity as a species. With the 2045 Initiative, we hope to realize a new strategy for humanity's development, and in so doing, create a more productive, fulfilling, and satisfying future.
The "2045" team is working towards creating an international research center where leading scientists will be engaged in research and development in the fields of anthropomorphic robotics, living systems modeling and brain and consciousness modeling with the goal of transferring one’s individual consciousness to an artificial carrier and achieving cybernetic immortality.
An annual congress "The Global Future 2045" is organized by the Initiative to give platform for discussing mankind's evolutionary strategy based on technologies of cybernetic immortality as well as the possible impact of such technologies on global society, politics and economies of the future.
Future prospects of "2045" Initiative for society
2015-2020
The emergence and widespread use of affordable android "avatars" controlled by a "brain-computer" interface. Coupled with related technologies “avatars’ will give people a number of new features: ability to work in dangerous environments, perform rescue operations, travel in extreme situations etc.
Avatar components will be used in medicine for the rehabilitation of fully or partially disabled patients giving them prosthetic limbs or recover lost senses.
2020-2025
Creation of an autonomous life-support system for the human brain linked to a robot, ‘avatar’, will save people whose body is completely worn out or irreversibly damaged. Any patient with an intact brain will be able to return to a fully functioning bodily life. Such technologies will greatly enlarge the possibility of hybrid bio-electronic devices, thus creating a new IT revolution and will make all kinds of superimpositions of electronic and biological systems possible.
2030-2035
Creation of a computer model of the brain and human consciousness with the subsequent development of means to transfer individual consciousness onto an artificial carrier. This development will profoundly change the world, it will not only give everyone the possibility of cybernetic immortality but will also create a friendly artificial intelligence, expand human capabilities and provide opportunities for ordinary people to restore or modify their own brain multiple times. The final result at this stage can be a real revolution in the understanding of human nature that will completely change the human and technical prospects for humanity.
2045
This is the time when substance-independent minds will receive new bodies with capacities far exceeding those of ordinary humans. A new era for humanity will arrive! Changes will occur in all spheres of human activity – energy generation, transportation, politics, medicine, psychology, sciences, and so on.
Today it is hard to imagine a future when bodies consisting of nanorobots will become affordable and capable of taking any form. It is also hard to imagine body holograms featuring controlled matter. One thing is clear however: humanity, for the first time in its history, will make a fully managed evolutionary transition and eventually become a new species. Moreover, prerequisites for a large-scale expansion into outer space will be created as well.
Key elements of the project in the future
• International social movement
• social network immortal.me
• charitable foundation "Global Future 2045" (Foundation 2045)
• scientific research centre "Immortality"
• business incubator
• University of "Immortality"
• annual award for contribution to the realization of the project of "Immortality”.
/ Follow us at:
/ Contact:
For additional information, partnerships and sponsorship, contact:
info@2045.com
Media requesting information and interviews, contact PR@2045.com
LinkedIn
LiveJournal
Google
Twitter
Facebook
Я.ру
ВКонтакте
Mail.ru