Real tech is trying to catch up to fictional tech

Discuss the technology of any incarnation of Ghost in the Shell
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Jeff Georgeson
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Post by Jeff Georgeson »

Well, we knew it was just a matter of time before this sort of thing became reality ... http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/20 ... CMP=twt_fd
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Post by Freitag »

Either I've lost all the good web links or else the tech business has slowed down recently. It used to be that I'd pick and choose from amongst several good stores what I'd post.


http://www.engadget.com/2012/08/28/harv ... -scaffold/
Harvard scientists grow human cells onto nanowire scaffold to form 'cyborg' skin

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Growing human tissue is old hat, but being able to measure activity inside flesh is harder -- any electrical probing tends to damage the cells. But a new breakthrough from Harvard researchers has produced the first "cyborg" tissue, created by embedding functional, biocompatible nanowires into lab-grown flesh. In a process similar to making microchips, the wires and a surrounding organic mesh are etched onto a substrate, which is then dissolved, leaving a flexible mesh. Groups of those meshes are formed into a 3D shape, then seeded with cell cultures, which grow to fill in the lattice to create the final system. Scientists were able to detect signals from heart and nerve cell electro-flesh made this way, allowing them to measure changes in response to certain drugs. In the near-term, that could allow pharmaceutical researchers to better study drug interaction, and one day such tissue might be implanted in a live person, allowing treatment or diagnosis. So, would that make you a cyborg or just bionic? We'll let others sort that one out.
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Post by Freitag »

In the movie, Batou used a set of electrified brass knuckles to take out the robot geisha that had a ghost blown into it.


http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00520BKM0/?tag=047-20
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Post by Freitag »

http://www.tgdaily.com/trendwatch-featu ... eal-itself

Stanford scientists have for the first time created a synthetic material that can sense subtle pressure and heal itself when torn or cut.

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While similar materials have been developed in the past, some have required high temperatures, making them impractical for day-to-day use. For others, repairing a cut changed their mechanical or chemical structure, so they could only heal themselves once. Most importantly, no self-healing material has ever been a good bulk conductor of electricity.

"Before our work, it was very hard to imagine that this kind of flexible, conductive material could also be self-healing," says Chao Wang.

The researchers started with a plastic consisting of long chains of molecules joined by hydrogen bonds. The molecules break apart easily - but when they reconnect, the bonds reorganize themselves and restore the structure of the material. The result is a bendable material.

The addition of tiny particles of nickel increased its mechanical strength; and, because the nanoscale surfaces of the nickel particles are rough, the material is conductive.

When a thin strip of the material is cut in half with a scalpel and the pieces gently pressed back together for a few seconds, it regains 75 percent of its original strength and electrical conductivity. After about thirty minutes, this rises to almost 100 percent.

"Even human skin takes days to heal. So I think this is quite cool," says Benjamin Chee-Keong Tee.

What's more, the same sample could be cut repeatedly in the same place. After 50 cuts and repairs, a sample withstood bending and stretching just like the original.

It's sensitive enough to detect the pressure of a handshake, meaning it could be be ideal for use in prosthetics. It could also be used to coat electrical devices and wires, so that they could repair themselves.
Why is he wearing surgical gloves? Will they magically protect him from the scalpel if he slips?
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Post by Freitag »

http://www.gizmag.com/thought-controlle ... arm/25216/
Mind-controlled permanently-attached prosthetic arm could revolutionize prosthetics

Max Ortiz Catalan demonstrates how the system works with the aid of electrodes placed on the skin, although amputees will have the electrodes implanted directly on the nerves and muscles inside the body
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Researchers based at Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden have developed the world’s first thought-controlled, fully implantable robotic arm, which uses an amputee's own nerves and remaining muscles to afford a much more intuitive level of control than previously possible. Initial operations on patients are scheduled to take place during the Northern Hemisphere’s upcoming winter.

Prosthetic limbs which are controlled by electrical impulses in the muscles have been available to amputees since the 1960’s, but they tend to be limited in function and difficult to control. Additionally, many amputees find the standard method of using a tightly fitted socket to attach the prosthetic limb to the body so uncomfortable, that they choose to simply forgo using one altogether.

Keen to maximize the comfort and intuitiveness of their design, the Chalmers researchers looked to a process known as osseointegration. Originally developed in the 1960‘s, osseointegration involves joining living bone to the surface of an artificial implant, and has been used successfully for ear, eye, and nose prosthetics, in addition to larger limb prosthetics.

“Osseointegration is vital to our success,” explained Max Ortiz Catalan, industrial doctoral student at Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden. “We are now using the technology to gain permanent access to the electrodes that we will attach directly to nerves and muscles.”
A diagram of Chalmers' implanted prosthetics system

A titanium implant will be anchored directly to the patient’s skeleton, and feature electrodes which join onto the remaining nerves and muscles of the amputee. Employing the electrodes in this way affords a significantly increased signal stability when compared to the typical method of controlling prostheses, which involves placing electrodes on the skin’s surface.

Electrical impulses are to be captured from the subject’s nerves with the implanted electrodes, before being transferred to a neural interface, which in turn transmits these impulses through the osseointegrated titanium implant. Finally, the impulses are decoded by sophisticated algorithms within the artificial arm, which help give the subject fine control over movements.

The artificial hand itself is very dexterous. Motors in each finger can be controlled both individually and simultaneously, allowing greater freedom of movement than was possible until now. The artificial hand also gives a level of feedback as the electrodes stimulate the neural pathways to the patient’s brain – presumably in way similar to real limbs. This contrasts with the more typical and inexact method of relying on auditory or visual feedback from an artificial hand’s motors to estimate the grip force.

The first operations on human patients will take place during the Northern Hemisphere’s upcoming winter, and Catalan and his colleagues hope that, following a successful demonstration, their technology will eventually be used more widely.

The video below (which uses the less exact skin-based electrodes for the sake of demonstration), looks very promising, and should the human trials prove successful, the new prosthesis system could potentially change the lives of many amputees.
Some very cool updates to the technology here. Pieces being pulled together from around.
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US-developed 'bionic' eye giving hope to those without sight

Post by THYREN »

U.S.-developed 'bionic' eye giving hope to those without sight

Abstract:
Thirty people aged 28 to 77 took part in the clinical trial for the product, all of whom were completely blind.

Mech said the outcomes varied by participant.

"We had some patients who got just a little bit of benefit and others who could do amazing things like reading newspaper headlines," he said.

In some cases, the subjects could even see in color.

"Mostly they see in black and white, but we have demonstrated more recently we can produce color vision as well," Mech said.

According to Mech, Argus II is already available in several European countries for 73,000 euros ($99,120). A US price has not been set but is likely to be higher, he said.

pretty cool :shock:

Considering how pioneering this is, we can hope the price of "cyborg components" to go down once there will be competition among several manufacturers
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Freitag
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Post by Freitag »

The rat brain thing is around here somewhere, I just can't find it. This ought to go after that.


http://io9.com/how-much-longer-until-hu ... -453848055
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Some interesting recent technology

Post by Net_Wanderer »

ASIMO by Honda.

http://asimo.honda.com/Inside-ASIMO/

http://asimo.honda.com/innovations/

http://asimo.honda.com/asimotv/

I served in the US navy and we had some nice robots we could utilize for evacuating downed soldiers in a live firefight. Instead of sending a corpsman out into the wall of criss-crossing lead we could send a robot with hinged tracks that could scale rubble and stairs rather quickly. It could either pick up the soldier in its padded arms or it could drag the soilder while holding onto the soldier's shoulders.

ASIMO however is much more advanced and I would think that installing a human brain with cybornetic implants would allow a person to use ASIMO as it would its fleshy body.
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New NASA bot

Post by GhostLine »

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/1 ... 32384.html

"Valkyrie" so it is named. Macross fans will love that.
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Post by Freitag »

http://www.engadget.com/2013/12/18/avegant-glyph/

One of these headset product images is a "real" product


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Prototype
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Finished product
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Post by Freitag »

Today is great, I found TWO techs.

Here's a mini ThinkTank

No idea what this is, but it look autonomous (or at least remote control) and can fire a bluray laser to pop a balloon.
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Post by Freitag »

The tech (to make/erase memories) here is still rudimentary in that all they can do is cause or remove fear in rats, but that is step 1 in being able to create real memories (in the sense that people think of them)

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/va ... 13294.html

Crappy pay-wall. Here is the simple version
http://www.engadget.com/2014/06/03/scie ... s-at-will/
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Post by GhostLine »

Wow, about the memory manipulation in rats.

But I think anything where you are introducing a negative stimulus to manipulate a subject is effective...as under the right duress, people will say or believe anything...and do it long enough, they'll say, "Yeah, I was there...on the grassy knoll with my basset hound!"
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Post by Freitag »

GhostLine wrote:...with my basset hound!"
lol



Siato's rifle?

http://www.engadget.com/2015/01/09/shoo ... e-a-robot/
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Post by Freitag »

It's been a while since anything really innovative has come across my radar, but I think this counts.


https://www.yahoo.com/tech/bionic-arm-p ... 15716.html

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http://media.zenfs.com/en-us/homerun/te ... d7f5c1ee59

After losing his left foot and left arm after being pulled under a train in London four years ago, biological scientist James Young underwent the process of regaining what he had lost during his accident. But instead of living the rest of his life with traditional prosthetics, Young decided to make himself bionic. Now he has a $90,000 device attached to his shoulder that would make Iron Man jealous. The specialists at the Alternative Limb Project helped Young to design and create his bionic arm, which is the first of its kind. But it was no easy task. “James's arm was the most challenging project to date,” says Sophie de Oliveira Barata, founder of the Alternative Limb Project. “It took a group of 11 3D designers, electronic specialists, mechanical and robotic engineers, and designers at GTR (a company that manufactures carbon fiber parts for Formula 1 racing and aerospace projects) to produce the arm."


The result is a functional piece of high-end technology inspired by Young’s favorite video game — Metal Gear Solid. The arm features a removable panel in the shoulder with a circle of magnets capable of holding small items (such as a camera or a phone), which can be charged or powered by the arm, a heart-rate sensor, a USB port, torch, laser, quadcopter drone, and a small screen with Bluetooth capabilities so Young can display messages, emails, incoming calls and social media notifications. But his favorite feature is the LED lights that run up and down the arm. “It’s just totally me,” Young says. “I’m like a human moth.” But since the options for a bionic arm are endless, Young anticipates that there will be a few updates. “I submitted a load of ideas, but we didn’t have time to do them all whilst making the arm look really great,” Young says. “I plan to add them in future 3D-printed updates or on a new limb, because this one has ended up being more for style and misses out on gadgets. Really, it doesn’t even have a bottle opener.”


The prosthetic is a prototype, but de Oliveira Barata hopes that the idea catches on. “Hopefully projects like this will encourage more interest in developing the world of prosthetics,” she says. De Oliveira Barata began her career in Hollywood, studying special effects makeup and creating prosthetics for the film industry. But after hearing about work to create realistic prosthetics for amputees in the medical industry, she took her show-biz skills and applied them to real life. “I thought to myself, ‘Wouldn't it be fun to make more unusual body parts? I am sure there would be people out there who might want to bring positive attention to their limbs as well as those who would want to blend into society.’ ” Since, she has been working with clients such as Young, who want to bring their imaginings to life in order to start a new life.


And while we're not convinced that we'll all be bionic, self-charging robot-humans anytime soon, it's undeniable that the media’s imagination has led to real-life inventions. "I think the entertainment industry plays a role in inspiring innovations in technology," Lucy Carr, Bonham's Auctions entertainment memorabilia specialist, says. "2001: A Space Odyssey is a particularly interesting case, as the production team reached out to real-life companies such as IBM and Boeing and asked them to develop futuristic products to be showcased in the film, potentially inspiring real-life innovations at those companies." With Young’s bionic arm, Blade Runner's drones, and self-driving cars as proof, Carr says that fiction’s role in tech history isn't going anywhere. And we wouldn't be surprised if we see a version of Young’s arm in James Cameron’s next space epic.
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