Lifeboat Foundation

I felt my hand, as if a hollow shell, got filled with life again.”

Researchers have created e-dermis, an electronic skin that transmits sensations of pain from an amputee’s prosthetic hand to their brain.

This brain implant gives users prosthetic memory that can boost the brain’s short-term recall.

Watch extremely realistic limbs, complete with hair and freckles, get made from beginning to end.

What would you do if you were a 19-year-old kid with $3.3 million? There are few people more equipped to answer that than teenaged bitcoin millionaire Erik Finman. His answer? You use some of that cash to build a Doctor Octopus-style exosuit and try and shake up the education system.

Artificial fingers for doing everything naturally.

The arm/hand probably intended for the ATLAS robot. I’d be curious if they are already playing with attaching it on to the robot.

The first person to live with a mind-controlled robotic arm is teaching himself piano. Johnny Matheny has spent the last five months with an advanced prosthetic, designed to replace the human hand and arm.

Continue reading “Playing piano with a mind-controlled robotic arm” »

The human eye is a remarkably sophisticated organ and like the lens to a camera, it’s the cornea that focuses the flood of photons into a perceptible image. But for an estimated 15 million people around the world, eye disease and trauma make surgery the only path to clear vision.

In the next few years, artificial corneas may become more accessible thanks to new research out of Newcastle University in the United Kingdom. There, researchers mixed stem cells from the cornea of a healthy donor with collagen and algae molecules to create a bio-ink, which they 3D-printed into an artificial cornea. The research is currently just a proof-of-concept but lays the groundwork for future techniques to create low-cost, easy-to-produce bionic eyes.

Continue reading “World’s first 3D-printed cornea made from algae and human stem cells” »

The new field of biohybrid robotics involves the use of living tissue within robots, rather than just metal and plastic.

Researchers have developed a novel method of growing whole muscles from hydrogel sheets impregnated with myoblasts. They then incorporated these muscles as antagonistic pairs into a biohybrid robot, which successfully performed manipulations of objects. This approach overcame earlier limitations of a short functional life of the muscles and their ability to exert only a weak force, paving the way for more advanced biohybrid robots.

Exoskeleton technologies can bring new capabilities to fighting forces and improve endurance and safety in industrial settings. Lockheed Martin continues refinement of next-generation industrial products with primary focus on powered exoskeletons. Lockheed Martin’s new lower-body exoskeleton has demonstrated to increase mobility. By reducing the effort in walking and climbing this technology can literally help soldiers and first responders go the extra mile while carrying mission-essential equipment.