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Archive for the ‘cyborgs’ category: Page 90

Jan 5, 2018

Dawn Of The Cyborg Bacteria

Posted by in categories: cyborgs, robotics/AI

In a basement laboratory, two robotocists have harnessed the sensing, swimming, and swarming abilities of bacteria to power microscopic robots. Who dares to unleash this madness?

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Jan 4, 2018

New class of soft, electrically activated devices mimics the expansion and contraction of natural muscles

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, cyborgs, engineering, robotics/AI

In the basement of the Engineering Center at the University of Colorado Boulder, a group of researchers is working to create the next generation of robots. Instead of the metallic droids you may be imagining, they are developing robots made from soft materials that are more similar to biological systems. Such soft robots contain tremendous potential for future applications as they adapt to dynamic environments and are well-suited to closely interact with humans.

A central challenge in this field known as “” is a lack of actuators or “” that can replicate the versatility and performance of the real thing. However, the Keplinger Research Group in the College of Engineering and Applied Science has now developed a new class of soft, electrically activated devices capable of mimicking the expansion and contraction of natural muscles. These devices, which can be constructed from a wide range of low-cost materials, are able to self-sense their movements and self-heal from electrical damage, representing a major advance in soft robotics.

The newly developed hydraulically amplified self-healing electrostatic (HASEL) actuators eschew the bulky, rigid pistons and motors of conventional robots for soft structures that react to applied voltage with a wide range of motions. The soft devices can perform a variety of tasks, including grasping delicate objects such as a raspberry and a raw egg, as well as lifting heavy objects. HASEL actuators exceed or match the strength, speed and efficiency of biological muscle and their versatility may enable artificial muscles for human-like robots and a next generation of prosthetic limbs.

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Jan 3, 2018

Scientists Unveil the First Portable Bionic Hand With a Sense of Touch

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, computing, cyborgs, transhumanism

The technology underpinning the new bionic hand was developed in 2014, but at the time, the equipment necessary to support it was so big the prosthetic limb could not leave the lab.

For Dennis Aabo Sorensen, who lost his hand in 2004 in a firecracker explosion, regaining the experience of touch was “fantastic.” He told CattolicaNews that “being able to feel different textures, understanding whether objects were hard or soft and how I was holding them was just incredible.”

Researchers found that Dennis was able to distinguish between a hard, soft or medium object in 78 percent of cases. In 88 percent of cases, he could correctly describe the size and shape of specific objects such as a baseball, a glass, and a tangerine. Three years later, Almerina has been given the same ability just by carrying a small computer in a backpack.

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Dec 31, 2017

Conductive tattoos

Posted by in category: cyborgs

Click on photo to start video.

These tattoos conduct electricity to turn you into a basic cyborg.

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Dec 29, 2017

Scientists have found a way to translate brain activity into movement

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, cyborgs, neuroscience, transhumanism

The transhumanist vision of a transformed and technologically enhanced humanity is no longer a science fiction pipe dream. The technological and scientific breakthroughs our society has experienced over the past couple of decades perhaps stand testament to that.

Applied science has certainly come a long way too, but we are yet to crack the brain’s enigma code. How would humanity benefit if we were to crack it? Neuroprosthetics seem to be a window into the future.

Can brain activity be translated into movement?

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Dec 15, 2017

Ford outfits its factory workers in exoskeletons

Posted by in category: cyborgs

Ford’s assembly line workers are being outfitted with exoskeletons.

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Dec 13, 2017

MIT scientists borrow from fireflies to make glowing plants

Posted by in categories: cyborgs, energy, food, transhumanism

The humble house plant could soon start earning its keep by lighting up a room, if new research from MIT pans out. Engineers have hacked watercress plants to make them glow for a few hours at a time, and while it’s currently only about as bright as those old stars you might have stuck to your ceiling as a kid, the long-term plan is to develop plants that you could read by to reduce the need for electric lighting.

The idea of a glowing plant is not particularly new. They’ve been promised by Kickstarter campaigns for years, including the likes of Bioglow and Glowing Plants, but those startups have since gone bust. Although we’re not going to pretend that this new project is immune from meeting the same fate, having the backing of MIT scientists gives us a little more hope that the glowing plants might eventually bear fruit.

The work comes from the same “plant nanobionics” team that recently designed explosive-detecting spinach and leaf sensors that can alert farmers at the first sign of thirsty crops. In this case, the researchers wanted to tackle lighting, which accounts for about 20 percent of energy consumption worldwide.

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Dec 8, 2017

Here’s What A Cyborg Dragonfly Looks Like

Posted by in categories: cyborgs, drones

This cyborg dragonfly is half insect half drone.

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Dec 5, 2017

A few days ago this documentary on cyborgs aired on Spanish Public TV, RTVE

Posted by in categories: cyborgs, education, transhumanism

Lots of futurists are in it. A 5-min section on my #transhumanism work, including the Transhumanist Bill of Rights (image of me below writing the first version on steps of US Supreme Court), is in the doc. My section starts about 45:30, and there are some YouTube versions out there too now (google the title Cyborgs Entre Nosotros) if there are issues to watch outside Spain: http://www.rtve.es/alacarta/videos/la-noche-tematica/noche-t…s/4341838/

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Nov 29, 2017

Artificial muscles give soft robots superpowers

Posted by in categories: cyborgs, robotics/AI

By Lindsay Brownell

(CAMBRIDGE, Mass.) — Soft robotics has made leaps and bounds over the last decade as researchers around the world have experimented with different materials and designs to allow once rigid, jerky machines to bend and flex in ways that mimic and can interact more naturally with living organisms. However, increased flexibility and dexterity has a trade-off of reduced strength, as softer materials are generally not as strong or resilient as inflexible ones, which limits their use.

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