BIONICS 1
Kevin Warwick
X 8210
What is Bionics?
• Bionics is the application of methods and
systems found in nature to the study and design
of engineering systems and modern technology.
(Wikipedia)???? – not a good definition
• aka biomimetics, biognosis, biomimicry, or
bionical creativity engineering
• Bionics = Bio(logy) + Electro(nics) ?
Medical Bionics
• In medicine, Bionics usually means the
replacement or enhancement of organs or
other body parts by mechanical versions
or electrical add ons.
• Bionic implants differ from mere
prostheses by mimicking the original
function very closely, or even surpassing
it.
Bionics
• KW views!
• Another name for linked Biological and
Technological systems.
• Could be animals linked with technology,
could be humans.
• Link needs to be either integral or
seemless.
Aimee Mullins
•
Example Aimee
• Mullins was born with
•
•
fibular hemimelia
(missing fibula bones),
and had both of her
legs amputated below
the knee when she was
a year old.
Her new legs, called
Cheetahs, allow her to
run at speed (100m in
15.77 seconds)
She is now also an
actress (see on imdb)
Limits?
• Are Aimee’s legs copies of human legs?
• How powerful can the springs be?
• Could she have wheels or rollers instead?
• She can change her legs – a pair for
sports, a pair for acting, a pair for dining
out etc
• So is the Wiki definition OK?
Physical/Mental
• The Bionic elements could be physical (as for
•
•
•
•
Aimee) or mental or a combination.
So they could be replacement body parts
They could be replacement/alternative mental
parts
A combination of the above
What about simple technical additions? e.g.RFID
Peter Cochrane - 1997
• “Just a small piece of silicon under
the skin is all it would take for us to
enjoy the freedom of no credit cards,
passports or keys. Put your hand out
to the car door, computer terminal,
the food you wish to purchase, and
you would be dealt with efficiently:
total freedom”.
RFID Implants
• First human RFID implant carried out on
24th August 1998 – in Reading (Dr.George
Boulos)
• Provides identification/information
• Allows/denies access
• Certainly something extra
• Like an implanted smart card
• But is it Bionic?
http://biochipinhumans.blogspot.com
/2007/08/how-is-this-little-chipimplanted.html
• Kevin Warwick described the surgery in such a
way:
"In theory, I was able to see what was going on,
but I was looking in the opposite direction most
of the time. The doctor pinched the skin and
lifted it up and sort of burrowed a hole . . .
underneath the skin and on top of the muscle.
It's well inside my body, in my left arm, just
above my elbow. [It's] held in place by three
stitches - partly so that the wound is held
together, but also so that the capsule doesn't
float around anywhere."
Use
• Identified individual to the building
computer
• Opened doors
• Switched on lights
• Said “Hello” (“Hello Mr. Chip” – Sun)
• All in response to the RFID being
identified
• Remember – that was in 1998
RFID Implants today
• Several thousand in place in humans
• Best known perhaps Amal Graafstra – see
IEEE Spectrum magazine March 2007 for 2
recent articles.
• Mexican Government
• Baja Beech Club
• 2004 OK by US Food & Drug Admin –
Diabetes, Epilepsy etc
RFID
• Close distance, in building, security
verification
• Good for medical identification
• Possible human passport use
• Good for dog/cat passports
• Not so good for tracking
Human Tracking
• Either cell phone or GPS
• Cell phone technology potentially
implantable – GPS still rather large
• Cell phone – accurate to 10 metres?
• GPS – accurate to 0.5 metres?
• Implantable cell phone tech perhaps
suitable for humans – needs cooperation
of cell phone companies
Desires?
• I’m not a scientist or engineer or whatever –
Just a concerned mum which would like to be
able to track my baby in case of kidnapping etc.
• Can the chip alert the person that they are
trying to be located? (schoolfriends)
• We are very interested in having a tracking
device implanted in our child. We are absolutely
terrified of the idea of our child being kidnapped
and want to protect him.
Questions
• Does a tracking device make someone
Bionic?
• Is there any difference between a device
being implanted and one being worn?
• Should we bother with such questions?
Other Implants
• Breast
• Hair
• Heart Pacemaker
• Artificial Heart
• Artificial Hips
• Implants linked with the nervous
system/brain
Heart Pacemaker
• A pacemaker uses electrical impulses, delivered by
electrodes contacting the heart muscles, to regulate the
beating of the heart.
• The purpose of a pacemaker is to maintain an adequate
heart rate, either because the heart is not fast enough,
or there is a block in the conduction system.
• Pacemakers are externally programmable and allow the
cardiologist to select optimum pacing modes for
individual patients.
• Some combine a pacemaker and defibrillator in a single
device. Others have multiple electrodes stimulating
differing positions within the heart to improve
synchronisation of the lower chambers of the heart.
Pacemaker
• Pacemaker is fully
implanted, with
encased battery
pack and contact
electrodes.
Background
• First experiments in 1889 (J.A.McWilliam)
• In 1926 Dr Mark C Lidwell, in the Crown Street
•
Women’s Hospital, Sydney, resuscitated a
newborn baby by inserting the needle of a
device into its heart and administering 16-volt
impulses for 10 minutes.
Implantable pacemakers constructed by the
American Wilson Greatbatch Co. entered use in
humans in 1960 following extensive animal
testing.
Problems
• Percutaneous – v – Implant (not to be
confused with Transcutaneous pacing)
• Material used (hermetic sealing) –
eventually Titanium casing
• Battery used (ultimately Lithium-iodide)
• Pacing used (how often to stimulate?) –
depends on nature of problem
Therapy/Enhancement
• Important questions here as to whether
the Bionic elements are purely therapeutic
or actually enhance the individual
• Even enhancement can be regarded in
different ways!
• This raises all sorts of ethical questions.
Related Topics
• Cyborgs
• Implants
• Biomedical Engineering
• BCI
• Sensory Substitution
• Human Enhancement
• Telepathy !!!
Weeks Ahead
• Animal Experiments
• Body Parts
• Arms and Legs
• Enhancements
• Medical Problems – PD, Epilepsy
• Ethical Issues