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Need a hand (or an arm, or a leg)? Hi-tech app controlled and 3D printed prosthetics shown off
From app-controlled hands to strap on exoskeletons that can give mobility to those unable to walk, the most hi-tech medical innovations in the world went on show today.
The orthopedic world congress 'OTWorld' in Leipzig, Germany, kicked off today with over 5,000 exhibitors.
Everything from bandages to entire limbs was on display, with over 20,000 experts expected to visit.
Model Claudia Breidbach presents a smartphone controlled bionic hand (i-limb) manufactured by the company Touch Bionics of Britain.
The hand can be controlled using an app but it can also pick up on muscle signals
HOW IT WORKS
The wearer of the hand can use an app to choose one of 24 different grips.
Alternatively, the hand can be controlled by muscle signals.
Electrodes in the wrist pick up electrical impulses created by contracting muscles and these are interpreted by a computer in the back of the hand.
The computer then moves the hand into any of a series of pre-set patterns.
The event is the biggest of its type in the world.
Klaus-Jürgen Lotz, President of the German Federation of Orthopaedic Technicians Guilds, said OTWorld offers an opportunity to take a look at a unique number of treatments in one place.
'This kind of interdisciplinary approach is unparalleled,' he said.
'Add to that the international atmosphere – and you have indeed a unique event.'
548 exhibitors from 37 countries will be showcasing their new products, with 260 of the exhibiting companies coming from outside Germany.
They include a British prosthetic technology company has created a hand which is so advanced it can be controlled using a smartphone app.
Gadgets ranged from the iHand to 3D printed legs (right)
Touch Bionics’ i-limb ultra revolution prosthetic hand also features a rotating thumb, five individually powered fingers, a rotatable wrist and aluminium chassis.
The company claims that this is the most dextrous prosthetic hand ever made.
The wearer of the hand can use an app to choose one of 24 different grips.
Alternatively, the hand can be controlled by muscle signals.
Electrodes in the wrist pick up electrical impulses created by contracting muscles and these are interpreted by a computer in the back of the hand.
The computer then moves the hand into any of a series of pre-set patterns.
A man walks in front of a poster which showing a bionic hand during the opening day of the orthopedic world congress 'OTWorld' in Leipzig, Germany, Tuesday, May 13, 2014.
It is also the first upper limb prosthesis to be created which can be controlled using an app.
It comes with an iOS app that allows the user to control the hand’s grip using their smartphone.
The app means that the wearer can choose from 24 different grips at the touch of a button.
The app can also offers training on how to best use the device and can diagnose problems with it.
However, it is not only controllable using an app – it also uses muscle signals to shift into a series of pre-set patterns.
It achieves this by using electrodes in the wrist to pick up electrical impulses created by contracting muscles, which are interpreted by a computer in the back of the hand.
Paraplegic Peter Anziano walks besides his wife Melissa Ford in an 'exoskeleton' manufactured by the US company 'Parker Hannifin Corporation' of Cleveland
/ 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”.