/ News
The Bionic Man Comes to NYCC
An upcoming documentary follows Richard Walker and Bertolt Meyer as they try to create a bionic man from current and emerging prosthetic technology.
Bertolt Meyer and Richard Walker, two prominent roboticists and subjects of the upcoming documentary The Incredible Bionic Man, stand in front of a long panel table at New York Comic Con, eager to answer questions. Next to them is their Frankenstein creation. Its artificial blood circulates through its mechanical heart. It’s eyes survey the crowd. It walks, talks, and speaks—a bionic man made completely from prosthetic technology.
“Suddenly, technology is at that point where we’re able to rebuild a lot of parts of the body,” Meyer says. “That technology has only been around for a few years, so that’s why I thought this was a good moment in time to explore these technologies and introduce them to a wider audience.”
The Bionic Man is different from advanced, DARPA-hardened robots , in fact, it can’t really walk that well at all. Instead with $1 million, Meyer, Walker and a team of engineers created the robot as a walking and talking showcase of human prosthetic advancement. Its skull is constructed from modern 3D-printing technology . An FDA-approved device, which gives partial sight to the blind , gives the robot vision. Iron-based nano particles stand in for blood, and its hands are two $60,000 prostheses. This is something Meyer and The Bionic Man have in common.
“I was born without my lower left arm, and I’ve had terrible artificial implants throughout the years,” Meyer says. “What we’re seeing is an explosion of innovation and new products in the market that I myself hadn’t thought I would witness in my lifetime.”
Many of the parts used to create the creature are lesser replacements of their organic counterparts. However, Walker and Meyer mention that if prosthesis innovation continues to progress as it is, it won’t belong before these replacements surpass the original. Meyer points to the work of MIT professor Hugh Herr , an amputee who lost both his legs in a mountain climbing accident, as an example. Herr developed a foot-and-ankle system that, according to Meyer, functions beyond the capability of the foot and ankle endowed by nature.
“In the not-so-distant-future bionic body parts will give us abilities that nature didn’t plan,” Meyer said, “and what kind of future will that be?”
Walker and Meyer’s creation is the subject of The Smithsonian Channel’s new documentary, The Incredible Bionic Man, set to premiere October 20 at 9pm ET.
Source: http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/engineering/robots/the-bionic-man-comes-to-nycc-16030899
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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”.
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