The term "bionic man" was the stuff of science fiction in the 1970s, when a popular TV show called "The Six Million Dollar Man" chronicled the adventures of Steve Austin, a former astronaut whose body was rebuilt using artificial parts after he nearly died.
Now, a team of engineers have assembled a robot using artificial organs, limbs and other body parts that comes tantalizingly close to a true "bionic man." For real, this time.
Meet Frank, the Incredible Bionic Man: He's a bit awkward at walking but he mirrors what happens in the human body.
It can walk, talk, grasp, see, hear. The possibilities are endless.
The artificial "man" is the subject of a Smithsonian Channel documentary that airs Sunday, Oct. 20 at 9 p.m. Called "The Incredible Bionic Man," it chronicles engineers' attempt to assemble a functioning body using artificial parts that range from a working kidney and circulation system to cochlear and retina implants.
"(It's) an attempt to showcase just how far medical science has gotten," says Richard Walker, managing director of Shadow Robot Co. and the lead roboticist on the project.
Walker says the robot has about 60 to 70 percent of the function of a human. It stands six-and-a-half feet tall and can step, sit and stand with the help of a Rex walking machine that's used by people who've lost the ability to walk due to a spinal injury. It also has a functioning heart that, using an electronic pump, beats and circulates artificial blood, which carries oxygen just like human blood. An artificial, implantable kidney, meanwhile, replaces the function of a modern-day dialysis unit.
It seems futuristic but some of the technology is being used in humans today.
"Artificial and implantable trachea, an early artificial and implantable lung, an artificial and implantable heart. It is not a prototype, it's been used all over the world. This technology has the potential of overcoming a lot of disabilities and disease."
Bertolt Meyer says, "He has an artificial pancreas and through his tubes flows artificial blood made up of nano parts that can bind and give off oxygen."
Although the parts used in the robot work, many of them are a long way from being used in humans. The kidney, for example, is only a prototype. And there are some key parts missing: there's no digestive system, liver, or skin. And, of course, no brain.
The bionic man was modeled after Bertolt Meyer, a 36-year-old social psychologist at the University of Zurich who was born without his lower left arm and wears a bionic prosthesis. The man's face was created based on a 3D scan of Meyer's face.
"We wanted to showcase that the technology can provide aesthetic prostheses for people who have lost parts of their faces, for example, their nose, due to an accident or due to, for example, cancer," Meyer says.
Meyer says he initially felt a sense of unease when he saw the robot for the first time.
"I thought it was rather revolting to be honest," he says. "It was quite a shock to see a face that closely resembles what I see in the mirror every morning on this kind of dystopian looking machine."
He has since warmed up to it, especially after the "man" was outfitted with some clothes from the U.K. department store Harrods.
And the cost? As it turns out, this bionic man comes cheaper than his $6-million-dollar sci-fi cousin. While the parts used in the experiment were donated, their value is about $1 million. but even bit to large
For instance a small video camera mounted on the glasses can one day help the blind. "The image that picks up is transmitted in a chip that sits in the back of the eye in someone who's blind and restores a sense of vision."
Cheryl Hunter, a Minnesota resident says, "It's more than I would have ever expected in my lifetime to see something like that."
Bringing a bionic man into the world, creates ethical questions.
Meyer says, "Would people elect to replace healthy limbs with bionic ones? These are questions we raise in the documentary."
Most of the bionic parts are prototypes and far from being implemented in every day surgeries but it could be a window into our future.
Watch the Incredible Bionic Man documentary on the Smithsonian Channel on Sunday at 9pm. And see the Bionic Man in person at the Air and Space Museum through December 11th, 2013..
it's all seems that Age of Cyborg Has Arrised
what you think about this Incredible Bionic Man your Reviews are Welcome
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