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Connecting Brain and Machine
Bionic legs that use sensors and a control system to allow amputees to seamlessly traverse almost any terrain; robotic arms with a sophisticated brain-computer interface (BMI) allow paralyzed patients to closely match the speed and coordination of a typical human limb; even a computerized bladder that could eventually alert patients with spinal cord injury when to go to the bathroom.
These are just some examples of BMIs that harness electrical activity produced by neurons in the brain to control the movement of a variety of robotic devices. The hope is that in the not-too-distant future, patients with a variety of neurologic disorders may recover their mobility and leave their wheelchair and other clumsy assistive devices behind.
The field of robot-assisted healthcare is burgeoning, but although the technology is evolving rapidly, such issues as regulatory approvals, clinician training, and high costs stand in the way of biomedical robotics eventually becoming part of everyday medicine.
New research into robotic and neuroprosthetic technologies, along with several review and perspective articles examining the state of the art in this field, was highlighted November 6 in a special issue of Science Translational Medicine.
Robotic Legs
In 1 report, Michael Goldfarb, PhD, professor, mechanical engineering, and professor, physical medicine and rehabilitation, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee, and colleagues describe components of the latest robotic leg technology. These components include ankle and knee motors, knee and ankle angle sensors, and heel and toe ground force reaction sensors.
The sensors replace aspects of the peripheral nervous system. Combined information from these sensors is fed into a microcontroller, which provides the equivalent function of the central nervous system (CNS).
To measure information from the CNS, and to act in unison with it, electrodes can be implanted in the peripheral nerves or motor cortex. Because the robotic limb is isolated from the metabolic power supply (the circulatory system), the prosthesis has its own power supply, often an electric battery.
Since the robotic prosthesis can emulate all aspects of muscular function, it can reproduce many biomechanical features that aren't possible with conventional prostheses. For example, users have enhanced gait symmetry and stable, controlled movements and can better negotiate slopes and stairs.
They're also less likely to fall. "[R]ecent studies indicate that the annual incidence of falls in the lower-limb amputee population exceeds that of the elderly population, the rate of seeking medical attention as a result of such falling is comparable with that of the institution-living elderly, and the incidence of falling (and consequently requiring medical attention) is higher in younger amputees than in older amputees, presumably because younger amputees are less restrained in their choice of activities and terrain," Dr. Goldfarb and colleagues write.
Another benefit of this new robotic leg is that unlike energetically passive prostheses, it doesn't necessitate compensatory movements that increase the stress on intact joints, which can lead to musculoskeletal degeneration.
The authors point out that studies on the biomechanical benefits of robotic leg prostheses with physical sensor interfaces have appeared in the literature and the devices have started to emerge on the commercial market.
Future models promise to be even more functional, and the authors expect that the full promise of robotic prostheses will increasingly be realized. The result, they said, should be improvement in patient mobility and quality of life.
Moving Arms
Similar translational technology is being applied to other limbs. Researchers have developed a robotic arm that patients with spinal cord injury and other paralyzed patients can learn to maneuver via a sophisticated brain-computer interface.
In one example, reported last December in The Lancet, surgeons using stereotactic image guidance with structural and functional MRI implanted 2 microelectrodes into the left motor cortex of a woman with chronic tetraplegia due to spinocerebellar degeneration. This allowed researchers to pinpoint and record neuronal activity when the woman was asked to imagine using her hand and arm.
After some practice, the woman was able to grasp items and fluidly move the hand with the coordination, skill, and speed of an able-bodied person.
Source: http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/815297
/ 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”.
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