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Josh Cathcar became first Brit to be fitted with new child-sized bionic hand
A nine-year-old who was bullied for having only one hand has become the first boy in the UK to be fitted with a new child-sized bionic hand.
Josh Cathcart, from Dalgety Bay in Fife, was tormented by classmates at school after he was born without his right hand.
Now he has become the first child in Britain to be fitted with the i-limb Quantum, an extra-small version of their prosthetic hand, to give him extra dexterity.
It means the youngster can build Lego, give a thumbs up and open bottles or packets with ease for the first time.
Josh said: 'I got it put on about two days ago. It feels quite heavy. I can stick my thumb up. I can make a pinch grip, I can get a grip for cutting with a knife.
'I made myself a bagel yesterday. I can open bottles and packets with it, I can stack up blocks, I can build lego with it and I can pull my trousers up.'
His worried parents Clare and James came across Touch Bionics in Livingston, West Lothian, after the became concerned their son was being bullied.
Mrs Cathcart said: 'Josh had been getting picked on and became quite withdrawn and upset, so we started looking for something a bit more advanced, something that moved.
'So, we had chats with him and then went on the internet and came across this company.
'He was born missing a hand. At first, I didn't really give it much thought to it, but as time went on I blamed myself for it.'
Wiping away tears, she said: 'Now I can see him with two hands.'
To Josh's visible protestations, she added: 'It gives him his independence, so he can now make his own food and tidy his own room.'
Mr Cathcart said: 'Obviously his socket's going to grow, so he'll get about nine months to a year out of this one and then he will have to come again and get a new socket.
'I think it's great. Just to see him pull his trousers up this morning, it was just something that he had never done, and he has been shown how to cut with a knife and fork.
'It just looked so natural for him. He can do things for himself without us helping him.'
Alison Goodwin, prosthetist at Touch Bionics, said: 'Josh has spent this week with us being fitted with the Touch Bionics i-limb quantum prosthesis.
'He's the youngest we've fitted so far because of the extra small hand that we now have available, so it's been great to now have the experience this week of fitting the youngest-ever person with the i-limb hand.
'We do fit the hand worldwide but he's the first one that we have fitted here in Scotland, so it's great that he's a local lad.
'We only released the i-limb Quantum in June, so it's brand new and offers some new features such as what we call i-mo technology, which allows him to do forward, backward and side-to-side movements, so he can enter grips such as a pinch grip or a lateral grip.
'It's a much easier way to control the prosthesis and we've been able to see this by somebody so young being able to pick it up so well.
'It works from electrodes which are positioned on the surface of his skin within the socket of his prosthesis, so this is the custom-made part which is fitted on to his residual limb.
'When he tenses those muscles, the electrodes open and close the hand.
'He's not worked these muscles because he has not used this type of prothesis before, and obviously without having a hand he has spent about nine years of not using those muscles, but he has developed them very well this week and has been working great with them.
'Josh was born without a right hand, as simple as that, it was just one of those things. He has a bit of a residual limb just below the elbow, but no wrist or hand.
'He's taken to it really positively this week, and he's looking forward to being able to integrate it into his daily life so he's really motivated to learn and use it day-to-day, so that's really helped the learning process because he is actually so positive and so motivated.'
Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3206718/We-rebuild-technology-Bullied-schoolboy-born-without-right-arm-child-UK-bionic-hand.html
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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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