Austria's 'Bionic Man' Dies In Car Crash

euphemistic writes "An Austrian man who became the first person outside the US to wear thought-powered 'bionic' arms has died from injuries sustained in a car crash ... Kandlbauer, who would have turned 23 next month, sustained severe head injuries when the specially modified car he was driving swerved off the road in the south east of Austria and crashed into a tree on October 19. The cause of the accident is not yet known, particularly whether the neurally-controlled arm-prostheses he had been fitted with might have played a role."

Comments

Austrian?

[gmuslera]

Wasnt by any chance Austin instead?

Re:Austrian?

[Nocuous]

Yes, it was Austin. Steve Austin. Don't worry, they have the technology, they can rebuild him.

Too soon?

Re:Austrian?

[damien_kane]

That's the problem.
They made him stronger, better, faster.
He was unable to compensate for the increased speed and killed himself in a car crash.

Re:Seriously?

[stonedcat]

"Posted by timothy on 08:08 PM -- Sunday October 24 2010"

Kinda looks like it was posted 15 minutes ago or so... are you from the future?

Re:Seriously?

[pinkj]

To strengthen my observation: Slashdot Capture

I wonder...

[zoom-ping]

... if pirates ever crashed ships into rocks, cliffs etc because of their 'bionic' limbs.

Re:I wonder...

[T Murphy]

If by "bionic" you mean "rum", and by "limbs" you mean "more rum", then the answer is yes.

Re:I wonder...

[shoehornjob]

LMAO man you deserve some mod points for that remark. Unfortunately I spent all my points. ARRRR.

Re:I wonder...

[Shikaku]

I get 15 on some days

Re:I wonder...

[Anonymous Coward]

The parent is mod'd funny, yet he raises a valid point:
some people are cripples for their own health, as oxymoronic as this sounds.

Re:I wonder...

[mike2R]

heh, not just pirates. A couple of hundred years back the Royal Navy issued half a pint of spirits per man per day.

Re:I wonder...

[Anonymous Coward]

I think you mean composite.

Re:I wonder...

[mcgrew]

Peg legs aren't bionic. To be bionic it has to be implanted.

Re:I wonder...

[damien_kane]

Of course they did.
It was safer to drink than water (potable water goes stale rather quickly at sea) and kept morale up.
Booze is cheap, like really cheap, to make, and a heck of a lot easier to keep fresh (store it in a barrel, the alcohol keeps it clean) than water (which would get all manner of potentially harmful microorganisms after even days of sitting).

Re:I wonder...

[aaaantoine]

"I wonder if pirates ever crashed ships into rocks, cliffs etc because of their rum more rum."

Re:I wonder...

[CheerfulMacFanboy]

Peg legs aren't bionic. To be bionic it has to be implanted.

So if they'd gotten a splinter from the peg leg, that then grew in - would that be bionic?

Re:I wonder...

[mcgrew]

It also has to aid in the body's function. I don't see how a splinter aids in the body's function.

Austrian Cyborgs?

[zippthorne]

Where have I heard this story before...

Re:Austrian Cyborgs?

[wowbagger]

I've also heard of Cyborgs called Austin....

Re:Austrian Cyborgs?

[Anonymous Coward]

As in "Steve", a man "barely alive". We rebuilt him, wehad the technology.

Re:Austrian Cyborgs?

[Anonymous Coward]

His last words were heard to be: "I'll be back."

Re:Austrian Cyborgs?

[Anonymous Coward]

He'll be back.

Re:Seriously?

[__aatirs3925]

I don't know about pinkj but I am. Look at my posting time and you'll see exactly what I mean. It's sad that this guy had to die like this. If you read some of the Chinese tabloids they are blaming American technology wtf?

If the arm was the cause?

[Anonymous Coward]

I wonder if the arm turned blue when it crashed?

Olympic Games deja vu

[chrism238]

Great to see that [Australia] is firmly in the tags for this story.

Re:Olympic Games deja vu

[Dr. Zim]

Think that might have anything to do with the story being in the Sidney Morning Herald?

Re:Olympic Games deja vu

[duk242]

Correction: Sydney

Re:Olympic Games deja vu

[12WTF$]

Correction: Sidney Mourning Harold

Re:Olympic Games deja vu

[shougyin]

Correction: SMH

Re:Olympic Games deja vu

[drinkypoo]

Correction: Throatwarbler Mangrove

Re:Olympic Games deja vu

[brusk]

You misspelled Luxury-Yacht.

Re:Olympic Games deja vu

[nyctopterus]

... purple monkey dishwasher.

Re:Olympic Games deja vu

[CAIMLAS]

What the hell. Somehow I managed to read your post as:

Connection: Sigourney Weaver Handheld

Need... more... sleep. Also, skimming and jumping about is bad.

Re:Olympic Games deja vu

[dakameleon]

if you're skipping sleep to read slashdot comments, you need to reassess your priorities.

Re:Olympic Games deja vu

[FragHARD]

He was just driving out to put a 'shrimp on the barby'.

I hadn't heard about these.

[mirix]

Interesting. I presume there software involved here?
Any details on how the system works?

Wouldn't be the first time a bug killed someone, but he could have just dozed off too...

Re:I hadn't heard about these.

[sumdumass]

OR he could have been passing some hot chicks in scant outfits and thought, I need to go talk to them forgetting he was driving down the road.

Re:I hadn't heard about these.

[AnonymousClown]

OR he could have been passing some hot chicks in scant outfits and thought, I need to go talk to them forgetting he was driving down the road.

OR....seeing the hot chicks, he thought of doing something else with that bionic arm of his on another part of his body and due to a glitch in the message queue for his arm, the arm immediately started doing what he wanted to do on his extremity - the hand made a fist and the arm started jerking up and down very rapidly on the steering wheel causing him to lose control of the vehicle.

Re:I hadn't heard about these.

[shoehornjob]

OR....seeing the hot chicks, he thought of doing something else with that bionic arm of his on another part of his body and due to a glitch in the message queue for his arm, the arm immediately started doing what he wanted to do on his extremity - the hand made a fist and the arm started jerking up and down very rapidly on the steering wheel causing him to lose control of the vehicle.

DAMN that's wrong...SO WRONG but I couldn't stop LMFAO.

Re:I hadn't heard about these.

[Anonymous Coward]

Admittedly it could have been any number of things that caused the crash, some not involving the bionic arm at all, however who's bright idea was it to put this disabled man and his prototype thought controlled limbs in charge of a tonne and a half of metal and plastics travelling in excess of 100km/h.

Re:I hadn't heard about these.

[udippel]

OR he could have been passing some hot chicks in scant outfits

Where do you live? It's late autumn in Austria. And fscking cold, if that's what you had in mind ... .

Re:I hadn't heard about these.

[Anonymous Coward]

Late autumn? The equinox was barely a month ago.

Re:I hadn't heard about these.

[ooshna]

I think he was just looking at the ass of the hot girl jogging on the sidewalk next to him. The arms read his thoughts and turned toward what was on his mind.

Re:I hadn't heard about these.

[Kjella]

And it could be the arms, but not a "bug" as such. I don't think it's so easy that you just move your arms like you used to and the robot arms mimic it, you probably have to learn to control them. So he passed his driver's test, but that is usually not that stressful. Can you do emergency maneuvers under high stress? Ok, so many people can't even with two perfectly functioning arms but maybe he panicked and lost control of his arms. I mean most of us have a lifetime of muscle memory controlling our arms, even in a panic. In fact, as a matter of survival maybe especially when the adrenaline is pumping. Maybe he acted on the wrong instincts from back when he had real arms rather than controlling the robot arms, it doesn't take much of lapse to matter a lot.

His arms were probably just fitted for the quiet daily life of just getting around and doing day-to-day tasks. If he suspected or had noticed anything, I would not be surprised if he covered it up so he could keep driving just like far too many elderly do. I mean, did anyone really check? I would think the prosthetics company would be more than pleased with all the 99% he could do, not the 1% he couldn't. It sounded like he was given just a regular driving test, which wouldn't test it. I would like to think that this would have been caught somewhere, but maybe nobody did. After all, he was the first in the country so there wouldn't be any routines for it...

Re:I hadn't heard about these.

[masterwit]

Just 10 months later, Kandlbauer passed his driving test and was given a specially-adapted Subaru. He returned to work as a warehouse clerk with his former employer.

"Only in a Subaru"

Re:I hadn't heard about these.

[sumdumass]

Autumn? As in fall? As in the leaves fall off the trees because it's getting cold and winter is soon?

I'm in the northern hemisphere of the globe (US) and it's the end of summer beginning of fall/autumn here. But I'm not too far off from Canada and we still get 70 degree or so days. Today, it was a nice and sunny 75 degrees which brought the girls out in shorts.

Re:I hadn't heard about these.

[buchner.johannes]

... it's the end of summer beginning of fall/autumn here. But I'm not too far off from Canada and we still get 70 degree or so days.

Is that in Kelvin?

Re:I hadn't heard about these.

[sumdumass]

Why would it be? I said I was in the US, and we use Fahrenheit here. It's one of those things the foreigners claim makes us stupid. However, I'm second guessing that entire stupid thing though.

Re:I hadn't heard about these.

[Anachragnome]

"Any details on how the system works?"

I assume some electronics are involved.

In my past life as an automotive mechanic, occasionally I would hop in a customer's vehicle, turn the key into the run position...and watch the little, cheap, stick-on compass mounted on the dash slowly turn to face another direction.

My point is that there are a ton of magnetic fields present inside of an automobile.

Did the cyborg mechanics take into account such an environment?

Considering they had implants in this dude's head, simply closing an open circuit in close proximity to circuitry in the arms could induce a voltage sufficient to give the term "fucking with your head" a whole new meaning.

A leaking secondary ignition voltage would do the trick nicely, as well.

Re:I hadn't heard about these.

[dbIII]

Death from a high speed car accident with a 23 year old driver is natural causes these days.

Re:I hadn't heard about these.

[mwvdlee]

Using Fahrenheit isn't stupid.
Not mentioning you're using Fahrenheit on a website which is read by many people from countries where Celcius is used (i.e. most of the world), IS stupid.
Unless ofcourse you want people to not understand you.

Re:I hadn't heard about these.

[mikael_j]

You lucky bastard, it's pretty much winter here (Sweden), we've only had snowfall twice so far though...

Re:I hadn't heard about these.

[stephanruby]

Any details on how the system worked at the time of the crash? Is it too much to ask for a black box for the arms and a black box for the modified car?

Re:I hadn't heard about these.

[sumdumass]

It's the entire "in america" thing where almost everyone who would be visiting a website would know that America uses Fahrenheit to measure temperature.

Anyways, I was attempting to call the GP silly because 70 kelvin is like -333 F and -203c. And of course 70 C is 343 kelvin and 158 F. When talking about the temp of the weather in a country, I don't think any of those other then 70 f would fit in this world.

Re:I hadn't heard about these.

[sumdumass]

It's getting cold at night though. Friday night I had to stay out and roast a hog for a benefit party Saturday morning and it got down to 43F (about 6.2c). We're bouncing back and forth on the temps as usual this time of year. One day it's nice a few days later, it's cold.

Re:I hadn't heard about these.

[Anonymous Coward]

and he can't even spell Some dumbass.

Re:I hadn't heard about these.

[I)_MaLaClYpSe_(I]

It is reportedly very unlikely that the bionic arm was involved since for driving it was said the he used a conventional prothesis. At least someone from the bionic company said so on TV when he was interviewed about this.

Re:I hadn't heard about these.

[Sique]

As a matter of fact, I am in Austria right now, and it is snowing right now with the temperatures barely above feezing point.

Re:I hadn't heard about these.

[lul_wat]

>>I presume there software involved here?

Yes. The same used in the Prius.

Re:I hadn't heard about these.

[Anonymous Coward]

OR he could have been passing some hot chicks in scant outfits and thought, I need to go talk to them forgetting he was driving down the road.

lol.

Ya, that's pretty funny. Too bad the so-called "neural" interfaces don't work like that. They pick up on motor control impulses in the brain, not "thoughts". Or in other words, they can't tell if you're thinking about moving your arm, they can only pick up when you try to move your arm.

Re:I hadn't heard about these.

[necro81]

Medical devices must pass extremely rigorous tests of their susceptibility to electromagnetic radiation. The equipment gets put into a test chamber (and RF anechoic chamber) with a barrage of antennae pointed straight at it, and blasted with radiation from ~10 Hz to 10 GHz. It's not just RF, they'll subject more purely electric and magnetic fields, too.

During these tests, the device is not permitted to act anomalously. Depending on how critical to life the device is or isn't, it may be permitted to lock up temporarily under such conditions; other devices must continue to work perfectly throughout.

That a myoelectric-driven prosthesis, with input signals measuring maybe a few millivolts, can continue operating in such an environment is both a marvel and a tremendous challenge.

Re:I hadn't heard about these.

[ultranova]

I don't think it's so easy that you just move your arms like you used to and the robot arms mimic it, you probably have to learn to control them.

According to this article, it is that easy. And it should be noted that all motions related to controlling a car are learned, rather than inborn reflexes.

Maybe he acted on the wrong instincts from back when he had real arms rather than controlling the robot arms, it doesn't take much of lapse to matter a lot.

The problem is that he didn't have a drivers license back then. He'd never once in his life driven a car with his fleshy arms, so he couldn't possibly have any carry-over habits.

Yeah, it's possible that the arms simply had a glitch, but it seems far more likely that an inexperienced driver simply crashed.

Re:I hadn't heard about these.

[xaxa]

70 degrees, in this context, can't mean anything else. It's annoying to have to convert it (21C) but it can hardly be called "stupid".

The predicted maximum temperature on this sunny day in London (UK) is 12C, it's currently 7C. This is cold, but not unreasonable for the time of year.

Re:I hadn't heard about these.

[wastedlife]

From Slashdot's FAQ:

Slashdot seems to be very U.S.-centric. Do you have any plans to be more international in your scope?

Slashdot is U.S.-centric. We readily admit this, and really don't see it as a problem. Slashdot is run by Americans, after all, and the vast majority of our readership is in the U.S. We're certainly not opposed to doing more international stories, but we don't have any formal plans for making that happen. All we can really tell you is that if you're outside the U.S. and you have news, submit it, and if it looks interesting, we'll post it.

It is worth noting that there is a Japanese Slashdot run by VA Japan. While we helped them a little in their early days, they essentially run their own content without any real involvement from us... none of us can read Kanji! There are currently no plans to do other language or nation specific Slashdot sites.

Answered by: CmdrTaco
Last Modified: 10/3/04

There it is, straight from the horse's mouth. Slashdot is a U.S. site, so expect all kinds of backwards things from us hicks. Expect Fahrenheit for temperatures, and the Imperial system for most measurements. When you visit a site run by a different culture, you should expect that they will use systems they are familiar with and use regularly. When I visit a British site, for example, I expect temperatures in Celsius and measurements in Metric. I also expect to see a lot of superfluous letters in words like color (colour) and aluminum (aluminium).

Also, as sumdumass stated, when measuring temperature in an inhabitable region of Earth, Fahrenheit is the only system that makes sense with a at a temperature of 70. So, if you feel the need to ask, then you are either mentally retarded or being pedantic.

Re:I hadn't heard about these.

[mcgrew]

A BBC article someone linked before says that the nerves that control the arm are rerouted into the chest, and what feels like moving the amoutated arm to the amputee moves the chest muscles instead, which control the prosthesis.

Since none of the tech is implanted, he's not a cyborg. If he gets a prosthesis that's not removable (say, connected directly to the bone) he would be.

Re:I hadn't heard about these.

[mcgrew]

There were no implants in his head, and in fact nothing was implanted at all. The nerves that controlled his missing arm were rerouted to his chest, so when it felt like he was moving arm muscles in the missing limb he was actually flexing chest muscles, which controlled the prothesis.

It's highly unlikely that magnetic fields played any part in the accident.

Re:I hadn't heard about these.

[Anachragnome]

"Medical devices must pass extremely rigorous tests of their susceptibility to electromagnetic radiation."

Then why all the signs telling pacemaker wearers to beware of the dude microwaving his breakfast burrito?

Re:I hadn't heard about these.

[Anonymous Coward]

Fahrenheit is superior-- it makes sense on scales of 0-100. For most of the populated world, 0-100F accurately describes most temperatures. In NYC, its perfect. When temperatures deviate to "below zero" or "over 100" it's significant and uncomfortable. Saying "man it got above 37.8C today" is just lame.

Austrian Wildlife to Blame

[Hoarse Whisperer]

Recent updates to the story via the Slashdot tagging system suggest that he may have swerved to avoid a Kangaroo, a common cause of accidents in South Eastern Austria.

Re:Austrian Wildlife to Blame

[Anonymous Coward]

Austria, not Australia! :)

Re:Austrian Wildlife to Blame

[syousef]

Recent updates to the story via the Slashdot tagging system suggest that he may have swerved to avoid a Kangaroo, a common cause of accidents in South Eastern Austria.

What was that skip? Sonny's fallen off a cliff?!? Lead the way skip!

Re:Austrian Wildlife to Blame

[ciaohound]

Perhaps he was trying to escape with his family over the Alps to Switzerland. We can only hope that the nuns removed the distributors from Herr Zeller's cars.
(I'm going to hell for making these lame jokes about the poor guy.)

Re:Austrian Wildlife to Blame

[shoehornjob]

I'm going to hell for making these lame jokes about the poor guy

At least you'll have lots of Slashdotters with you.

Re:Austrian Wildlife to Blame

[ciaohound]

Then it will be hell!

Re:Austrian Wildlife to Blame

[Falconhell]

Jean Paul Satre said "Hell is being locked in a room with your friends forever"

Then again, all of his friends were French!

Re:Austrian Wildlife to Blame

[al.caughey]

There are stories of a population of escaped kangaroos about an hour outside of parisn (google kangaroos + france) ... a quick ride on the TGV and they'd be in Austria in no time.

Re:Austrian Wildlife to Blame

[TheLink]

Friends or no friends, forever is a very very very long time.

Any imperfection is magnified by infinity.

So if there really is eternal life after death, it's going to be bad if you are not transformed to be able to enjoy it.

Re:Austrian Wildlife to Blame

[Sique]

There are kangaroos in Austria.

Re:Austrian Wildlife to Blame

[t2t10]

Isn't it odd how the kangaroos of Austria look just like bunny rabbits?

Re:Austrian Wildlife to Blame

[geminidomino]

Look, that rabbit's got a vicious streak a mile wide! It's a killer! Look at the bones!

Re:Austrian Wildlife to Blame

[1110110001]

You mean Sumsi? http://www.kleinezeitung.at/steiermark/leibnitz/wolfsberg_im_schwarzautal/2526258/weststeirisches-kaenguru-sumsi-nach-kaernten-ausgewandert.story

Doesn't at least a part of you want to know...

[oliverk]

...if they can rebuild him?

Re:Doesn't at least a part of you want to know...

[Anonymous Coward]

Don't you mean, rebuild him... again?

Re:Doesn't at least a part of you want to know...

[crazypip666]

I hear they can rebuild him better, faster, and stronger.

Re:Doesn't at least a part of you want to know...

[Andy Smith]

... but still dead.

Re:Doesn't at least a part of you want to know...

[ajlitt]

Apparently they don't have the technology.

Re:Doesn't at least a part of you want to know...

[Anonymous Coward]

put a prosthetic brain in, he'll be good as new!

Re:Doesn't at least a part of you want to know...

[H0p313ss]

... but still dead.

Great, Austrian cyborg Zombies. What could possibly go wrong?

Re:Doesn't at least a part of you want to know...

[sycodon]

Not until they release an update.

Never, EVER go with version 1 of anything.

Re:Doesn't at least a part of you want to know...

[Miseph]

Ooh, I bet they could launch him out of a cannon!

Re:Doesn't at least a part of you want to know...

[The Grim Reefer2]

...if they can rebuild him?

I saw that movie, it doesn't work out so well for the non-cyborg zombies.

Re:Doesn't at least a part of you want to know...

[DryGrian]

Do you have any idea how long six million bucks takes to pay back on a government salary?!

Re:Doesn't at least a part of you want to know...

[Anonymous Coward]

Great, Austrian cyborg Zombies. What could possibly go wrong?

With that setup? Nothing.

Waiting for....

[SwampChicken]

... the Aussie Fritz comment. In 5...4...3....

HAL

[Anonymous Coward]

Did he happen to name one of his arms HAL?

Someone WiFi'd Malware to his elbow...

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm sure that's what it was.

An interesting motto

[tftp]

his motto was: "Don't live for others, live for yourself!"

No further comment is necessary.

Re:An interesting motto

[Anonymous Coward]

Good thing no other armless were injured. They ave a eck of a time. Can't be an easy thing to do well, make an arm...

Re:An interesting motto

[mfwitten]

Given the context:

"I love driving. My licence has given me back my independence," he wrote, saying his motto was: "Don't live for others, live for yourself!"

I think the motto as printed is a mistranslation. Consider this variant:

"I love driving. My licence has given me back my independence," he wrote, saying his motto was: "Don't live through others, live through yourself!"

Re:An interesting motto

[tftp]

I think the motto as printed is a mistranslation. Consider this variant: [...] "Don't live through others, live through yourself!"

I understand your reasons to say so, but here is the original, in German:

"Lebe nicht für andere, sondern lebe für dich!", war das Motto des gelernten Kfz-Mechanikers, der mit 17 Jahren auf einen Strommasten geklettert war und dabei beide Arme verloren hatte.

The original English translation seems to be reasonable, since für != durch. Native German speakers are welcome to correct me, if needed. My German is pretty basic.

Re:An interesting motto

[mfwitten]

Maybe I'm not cynical enough. The Austrian article says the same thing:

"Lebe nicht für andere, sondern lebe für dich!", war das Motto des gelernten Kfz-Mechanikers, der mit 17 Jahren auf einen Strommasten geklettert war und dabei beide Arme verloren hatte.

Re:An interesting motto

[misexistentialist]

It's a fine motto, and is less about being selfish, than about being yourself. He probably was referring to his own efforts to overcome being seen as a cripple by the armed masses.

Re:An interesting motto

[Anonymous Coward]

Translation:
"Don't live for others, but live for yourself!" was the motto of the (car) mechanic, who climbed a utility pole at age 17 and in doing so lost both his arms.

I'm not sure about utility pole. What I mean is one of the towers that carries power lines.

Re:An interesting motto

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm guessing it was one of these.

Re:An interesting motto

[Anonymous Coward]

The original English translation seems to be reasonable, since für != durch. Native German speakers are welcome to correct me, if needed. My German is pretty basic.

I'm a native German speaker, but no correction's necessary - you are correct. It is indeed "don't live for others, live for yourself".

Re:An interesting motto

[Anonymous Coward]

The "for" translation was the better one. IAAG (I am a german).

The stuff you quoted from the original pretty clearly translates to "Don't live for others, instead live for yourself!"

Re:An interesting motto

[thePig]

For a guy who lost both the arms, I think this motto is fine. This is a big deformity - and there will be a lot of bitterness in the soul against God and even to his fellow people. I do see some people overcoming that bitterness, but most people do not.

Think about it - being dependent on others for the whole life, everybody else showing pity on you - it is enough to make any one bitter - I know for sure that I would be. Especially a person who knows the joy of being independent till 18 - it will be especially hard for him.

Given the circumstances, I have no problem with that motto at all.

Re:An interesting motto

[Elrac]

NGS here. "Don't live for others, live for yourself" is indeed the correct translation.

Re:An interesting motto

[worf_mo]

The translation and your German are fine; this sentence allows a different interpretation, though: When I read the motto on his website, I thought it was in the spirit of: "Don't live trying to please others, live for (so that you're ok with) yourself."

Not trying to second-guess his intentions, I just thought I'd chime in with a different interpretation.

Re:An interesting motto

[Anonymous Coward]

Don't live for others, live for yourself is fine as a motto so long as it carries the rider "... so long as you do so without being a massive danger or hindrance to others". I should have the freedom to do whatever I want with my life, but if that means being a drain on the health care system by climbing electricity pylons, or being a death threat by driving on the roads with an untested robotic arm, then it's about time to demonstrate some social responsibility.

Re:An interesting motto

[Anonymous Coward]

You are right (I'm Austrian).

Put shrimp on the barbie!

[Anonymous Coward]

Kandlbauer crashed after swerving to avoid hitting a koala or possibly a strudel.

Died?

[Anonymous Coward]

Can't rebuild him, don't have the technology.

Has anybody considered that..

[Anonymous Coward]

...he could've hit a kangaroo (outside the person who tagged this "Australia") !?

Re:Seriously?

[Anonymous Coward]

..some of the Chinese tabloids they are blaming American technology wtf?

It's a proactive defense of the "...cheap Chinese parts..." accusation which will inevitably manifest.

2010 Darwin award with notable mention from 2005?

[ters a-zA-Z0-9$_. !*]

He sounds like a contender for 2010 darwins

Austria != Australia

[SmarterThanMe]

G'day != Guten Tag.
How you goin, mate != Wie geht es Ihnen
No worries != mach dir keine sorgen

WTF mates?

Re:Austria != Australia

[multipartmixed]

I think that last one is "Was die vick, Ihnen!"

I'm surprised you didn't know that.

sounds familiar

[Anonymous Coward]

We can rebuild him, we have the technology...

(too soon?)

Re:sounds familiar

[Gadget_Guy]

We can rebuild him, we have the technology...
(too soon?)

No, too late!

Easily explainable

[j00r0m4nc3r]

Maybe he was trying to open windows, and crashed...

Re:Easily explainable

[udippel]

This is funny, but I lack mod points, alas.

Re:Easily explainable

[uninformedLuddite]

That's why they say Java and driving don't mix

he died a pioneer

[circletimessquare]

we should all be so lucky, to die pioneering new frontiers

Re:he died a pioneer

[Angst Badger]

we should all be so lucky, to die pioneering new frontiers

He did no such thing. He died using an unproven technology as a single point of failure in a critical system. Windows sysadmins the world over do that day in and day out.

Re:he died a pioneer

[shougyin]

I didn't know Windows system admins were dying off all over the world because of this, but I wouldn't be surprised either....It all goes back to Microsoft somehow.

Re:he died a pioneer

[Falconhell]

Yeh, I have a terrible time as a windows sysadmin, what with no server crashes in 7 years
supporting 250 clients, 0 downtime, uptimes of 3 years, only shutdown for new hardware.

It awful having nothing to do.

Re:he died a pioneer

[Anonymous Coward]

I call bullshit

Re:he died a pioneer

[Anonymous Coward]

Your "reply" is the bullshit AC. You are just another retard that cannot understand that Win server is very relable since server 2000.

Why is it some people just cannot accept that windows is quite good these days I wonder?

Re:he died a pioneer

[Angst Badger]

Why is it some people just cannot accept that windows is quite good these days I wonder?

Possibly because some of us have experience with environments that involve as many as two orders of magnitude more clients than your toy 250-client setup?

Windows has improved significantly from Win2k onwards, but I still don't want it running my life support.

Re:he died a pioneer

[Anonymous Coward]

You're insane if you would also want Linux or UNIX running it. All three are wholly unsuited to life-critical tasks, as casual spec & source code examination makes obvious. I doubt that you could find even 1 function suited for re-use.

-- Signed, AC #3.

Re:he died a pioneer

[Anonymous Coward]

That is such bullshit. Every time you install a piece of software on ms windows it asks to reboot. Don't give me that. Either you don't touch it or you outright lie.

Re:he died a pioneer

[Falconhell]

Why would I need to install software on the server?

There are many programs that dont require a restart, if you had any idea what you are talking about you owuld know that.

So go fuck yourself AC, I note you dont have the guts to log in when you troll and call people liars.

Firmware Upgrade

[Anonymous Coward]

Never skip those on your bio-limbs!!!

Don't blame animals: they jump out of the way.

[Anonymous Coward]

It's those damned trees is what's to blame: they might be in the same spot for hundreds of years, residing like squatters on ancestral migration roads and paths.

Trees cause more damage than anything; that and square road measurements: who in this smooth and round world terminates a stretch of road into an abrupt stop sign and 45-degree turn? If we had more gradual and complementary roads then we'ld have better fuel efficiency and less wear on our vessels and rolling chassis and fewer distractions that we may finally text-message in peace knowing the roads hold no dangerous turns.

Re:Don't blame animals: they jump out of the way.

[The Grim Reefer2]

That's right, the tree huggers killed him! Tragedies like this are yet another reason we need to listen to the Pavers(tm). One Asphalt , One People(tm)

THE CREED (tm) of the PAVERS (traditional version)

We believe in a completely Paved Earth.

            Earth is cursed with trees, shrubs, grass,
            and scurrying creatures. With every breath
            We act to right this terrible wrong.

We believe in The Plan (tm).

            The Plan (tm) is the final word; it brings us
            the knowledge of the twin pleasures:
            Speed and Convenience.

We believe food should be enjoyed.

            "Nutrition" is an aberration of human nature.
            The juicy Burger and hearty Beer are Our sacrament.

We believe in the Depletion of scarce natural resources.

            Some see the vessel as half full; others see it as
            half empty; We pour it out on the floor and laugh.

We believe in a sky roiling with Smog.

            The color blue should appear nowhere but the paint
            on Our Hypercars (tm).

Bigger Issue!

[shougyin]

This brings up a more alarming issue that I believe needs to be looked into before we begin walking around with cyborg parts attached. What if the machines have suicidal tendencies? I'm sure if I was attached to someone else and forced to do their bidding, then I wouldn't be too happy. Maybe his arm wasn't happy enough just being his arm! What if it dreamed of being a cell phone...and watching him talk blissfully on that beautiful piece of machinery just threw the arm over the edge!

Re:Bigger Issue!

[slothman32]

Kind of like Spiderman 2?
Well they weren't suicidal but they didn't like being controled.

Re:Bigger Issue!

[aphelion_rock]

I wonder if the arm was equipped with a black box recorder so that can analyse if the arm contributed to the accident?

Re:Bigger Issue!

[CyprusBlue113]

Yeah but all they did was get all whiny and wear emo black.

Re:Bigger Issue!

[Falconhell]

* Dave Lister: Sometimes I think it's cruel giving machines a personality. My mate Petersen once brought a pair of shoes with artificial intelligence. Smart Shoes, they were called. It was a neat idea. No matter how blind drunk you were, they would always get you home. Then he got ratted one night in Oslo, and woke up the next morning in Burma. See, the shoes got bored just going from his local to the flat. They wanted to see the world, man, y'know? He had a helluva job getting rid of them. No matter who he sold them to, they'd show up again the next day! He tried to shut them out, but they just kicked the door down, y'know?

* Arnold Rimmer: Is this true?

  * Dave Lister: Yeah! Last thing he heard, they'd sort of, erm, robbed a car and drove it into a canal. They couldn't steer, y'see.

  * Arnold Rimmer: Really?!

* Dave Lister: Yeah. Petersen was really, really blown away by it. He went to see a priest. The priest told him, he said, it was alright, and all that, and the shoes were happy, and they'd gone to heaven. Y'see, it turns out shoes have soles.

Re:Bigger Issue!

[CarbonShell]

Maybe we should wait until the crash report.
Why?
Well I do not know how many might be confusing Austria to Australia.
Not to mention that the former is now in the middle of Fall season and beloved for it's winter sports.
So, it could just have been an accident on a wet/slippery road.
Something that could happen to other people as well. (ask my wife)
Just because it happened to mister bionic makes it news, that's all.

Re:Bigger Issue!

[nbauman]

Not so far-fetched.

You will remember in Dr. Strangelove the Herman Kahn/Werner von Braun character's bionic hand that keeps autonomously making the Hitler salute and tries to strangle its owner.

This was an echo of Fritz Lang's Metropolis (which is on the Wayback Machine).

I guess...

[screevo]

I guess his mind must have wandered...

Don't go half way

[Anonymous Coward]

If you are going to build essentially an Inspector Gadget you can't go half-assed and just stop at the the arms, you gotta go all the way. Imagine if he had a gadget copter as well, he could have flown away from the car before it crashed.

Try again!

[Matt Perry]

"Gentlemen, we can rebuild him. We have the technology."

Re:Try again!

[Anonymous Coward]

Gosh, you must be old. Like me. Kids these days won't know these lines.

Re:Try again!

[CyprusBlue113]

Actually, we just see they clearly didn't have the technology. Either way, the bionic woman was much easier to watch on tvland, at least she was hot.

Chich chich chichchichchich...... Because slow-mo means its faster!

Re:Try again!

[Matt Perry]

Mmmm. Lindsay Wagner in slow mo. Those were the days. Now I feel old.

I'm sure we'll know more...

[Anonymous Coward]

...when they recover his black box.

sci-fi science

[slothman32]

Oddly enough I was watching the show "sci-fi science" yesterday and they were showing a person will a similar bionic arm.

It wasn't the same person but it is erie (lake).

Was he an organ donor?

[Anonymous Coward]

Can they re-use the arms?

Re:Seriously?

[JohnRoss1968]

No its just he gets his news for nerds at more than just /. Its been posted at several other sites including Engadget since yesterday.
Hes not from the future, but its starting to look like Slashdot is from the past.

Not thought-powered but thought-controlled

[DavMz]

Unless he was a Jedi and could use the Force...

Sounds like an X-FILE !!

[Anonymous Coward]

Mulder, get on it. Sculley, take off your clothes.

http://images.celebritymoviearchive.com/members/thumbs/g/Gillian%20Anderson%20-%20Straightheads%20-%203_1.jpg

Careful with those. You can put out an eye !!

The Austrian Winter killed him

[Anonymous Coward]

It has long been known that bionics fail in cold. It was Steve Austin's only weakness. They should check the heater on the car. It probably failed.

I can't believe the story did not mention this. Those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it. I only hope they do better when the Soviet Venis Probe comes back to Earth.

Re:Seriously?

[Anonymous Coward]

Sorry this is slashdot you will have to get used to getting your news after its old and stale.
Nerds like it that way.

This story has been all over the tech news sites since saturday.
Sorry Slashdot your a day late and a dollar short.
Im just amazed no-one here has even bothered to ask if his arms ran on Linux yet.
Or more to the point tried to blame Windows for this.

Rebuild him...

[pr0f3550r]

Can't we just rebuild him again? Don't we have the technology?

hummm...

[Anonymous Coward]

Dead batteries perhaps.

I guess you could say...

[pariah99]

I guess you could say that his arms had... (sunglasses) ...a mind of their own. YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

A dark omen

[uxbn_kuribo]

I'm pretty sure this is the first sign that SkyNet has become self-aware. I mean, he WAS an Austrian with living tissue over metal endoskeleton, maybe his neural net processor had learned things that made it a threat to the system.

Anonymous Coward

[Anonymous Coward]

Maybe he was texting or dial his cell phone.

oh god oh god oh god... hang on to my beer

[al.caughey]

if this is the case, he may have lost control when he was ejaculated out of the car ....

Re:oh god oh god oh god... hang on to my beer

[rts008]

That, sir, was a cheap shot below the belt. ;-)

Re:Seriously?

[Anonymous Coward]

Imagine a beowulf cluster of dead cyborgs!

Hope he didn't hurt anyone else

[tconnors]

'Kandlbauer "accepted his fate in a manner that commanded great respect from all of us'. What? It's not fate when it was his own stupid choice to climb a high voltage pylon.

Why was he allowed to drive despite his arms being controlled by an unreliable experimental medical/machine technique? His motto was "Don't live for others, live for yourself!". Meanwhile, he was always far more likely to contribute to other peoples deaths because he was allowed to drive.

I just hope he didn't hurt or kill anyone else when he crashed.

Re:Hope he didn't hurt anyone else

[dwandy]

ok "t connor s", I can see you have some kind of bias against The Machines, but the rest of us are still pretty happy with the progress we're making.

Well then no wonder

[publiclurker]

I imaging the sight of a kangaroo up there would have really startled the guy.

It wasn't his arm..

[bronney]

It was this:

http://www.amazon.com/AutoExec-WM-01-Wheelmate-Steering-Wheel/dp/B000IZGIA8

First Austria Post

[dbIII]

Letterboxes in Australia are red with white stick on letters, and there are a few with letters removed that say AUSTR IA POST.

Blame Darwin

[srussia]

According to TFA, the guy "lost both his arms in September 2005 when he climbed a high-voltage electricity pylon as a dare ".

Re:Blame Darwin

[freeshoes]

Maybe there was some charge left over in his body, that caused his arms to malfunction? Or maybe his arms software tried to dereference a NULL pointer and dumped its core.

Re:Blame Darwin

[geminidomino]

Considering the way he lost his arms, it seems to me that this guy WAS a NULL pointer...

Re:Blame Darwin

[durrr]

The AI systems interpreting his neural input to the prostheses probably was insulted by his lack of intelligence, figuring it was more G-hardened than him it did the perfect murder.

Re:Blame Darwin

[mcgrew]

He's 23; old enough to have reproduced by ten years. Darwin failed. OTOH, if he can't get laid, Darwin wins.

Those who get laid win the Darwin game, not the intelligent teenager who can't get a date. My friend Linda, ten years younger than me, died a couple of years ago. But in the Darwin game, she beat me thirteen to two (she was a Catholic who had been repeatedly beaten by her ex husband; she wasn't exactly Einstein).

The Darwin game is about procreation, and procreation only. If you die before you procreate, you lose.

Probably ripped the steering wheel off...

[Joce640k]

Forgot to turn the arm power down to 'human' after a long day throwing boulders around.

Another Darwin awards contender?

[dutchwhizzman]

He already escaped death once when he climbed the high voltage pylon. Chances are, he was driving reckless and thus caused his own car crash. Unfortunately, it is one of the major causes of death for young men his age and he has already proven he has the mindset for it.

Re:Another Darwin awards contender?

[nbauman]

I wonder whether he was wearing his seat belts.

He had a head-on collision into a tree. Modern cars are designed to let you survive this exact kind of crash if you wear your seat belts. When the front of the car collapses, it absorbs enough energy to come to a stop in 30 inches at 50g, and if you're wearing the seat belt you usually survive.

Maybe your life isn't important to you. But it shows disrespect for the engineers who worked so hard to design a safer car when you don't wear your seat belt.

It also shows disrespect for the laws of physics. And you know what happens to people who show disrespect for the laws of physics.

My CPU is a neutral network...

[Anonymous Coward]

> whether the neurally-controlled arm-prostheses he had been fitted with might have played a role

I would thinkso. On first realizing that he speeds too fast he began thinking - "oh my, I am heading off roads..:"
and, guess what, the arms did exactly that.

Next time he was thinking, "oh god, I am gonna crash into one of these trees..."

The rest is history...

Probably

[Anonymous Coward]

I now realize that you probably made a BSoD reference but the first thing I thought about when I read your comment was the blue-ish color of cyborgs (especially their arms) in Deus Ex.

Now, as the rule goes "Deus Ex - Every time you mention it, someone will reinstall it" (proof), and I am too busy, I recommend that you install it and being playing immediatelly.

Bionic arms, and cell phone in shirt pocket?

[zentext]

After five more bionic arm patients die in exactly the same way in about the same spot, they'll figure it out. That's just out of range of the last cell phone tower on that road, and his mobile tried to poll for a new tower, at max RF power output. Which glitched his arms. Brrrpt brrr brrrt brrt brrtbrtbrt your dead... Or.... he was driving a Toyota Prius, and there was a software interfacing problem.

My respect for Slashdot poster's hits new Low

[nibbles2004]

At the end of the day , a young man has died in tragic circumstances, and supposedly intelligent posters to slashdot, who on average tend to be smarter than the average bear, just come out with cheap, craze comments. There nothing funny about this story and people should have more respect

Re:My respect for Slashdot poster's hits new Low

[Combatso]

around 2 people die every second.. when something is showcased like this it is the natural human reaction to poke fun.. its a way to remove yourself from the situation without having to face your own mortality.. in a way, all the 'cheap, craze [sic] comments' are their way of mourning a complete stranger to them...

Re:My respect for Slashdot poster's hits new Low

[Anonymous Coward]

The idiot lost his arms due to a stupid stunt. His death is a relief for sane people everywhere.

Austria, Driver, Accident....

[Anonymous Coward]

Most of those incidents were alcohol related - as it's the tradition *eg*

Can't we rebuild him?

[Sinn3d]

Don't we have the technology?

He was sppeding.....

[Anonymous Coward]

According to the local newspapers police told them, this guy was going far too fast and lost controll over the car. So his bionic features most likely are not the reason, just simple stupidity, losing a second chance...

OMG

[hesaigo999ca]

I don't know, I understand wanting to push the boundaries, but even if I knew my newly configured arms could steer a vehicle, I think I would not want to take the chance, and just learn to use them around the house or at work, seeing as it is still a new technology, you can find someone that will drive you, being this stubborn is just asking for trouble.

I'm curious what testing was involved

[Anonymous Coward]

It says specially modified car. How exactly? Also I'm not certain you should be allowed to control large machinery with a device that they weren't tested for. For example I could rig up my car to control it with my cellphone while I sit in the drivers seat. If something goes wrong I still have my hands to control the car. But I suspect I wouldn't be allowed to do that unless I was working on developing weapons for the US military (and then some redneck from the Energy Dept. would say it is okay and probably put up a million dollars to see who can drive the fastest that way). But how reliable is bionic man's arms? What does he do when his arm malfunctions? Who knows. That folks is why people that are disabled should realize that they are "disabled" not enabled to use whatever random piece of crap a lab puts together and throws onto their stub to try to pretend that they are completely capable of doing everything that someone that isn't disabled is able to. This would be similar to how a reasonable normally fully functioning person isn't supposed to operate equipment when drunk, taking medications that can affect them, injured etc in such a way that they can't control the machine. Dude you have no arms you are one dead battery away from a crash.

.au .at

[bkingaut]

It's a dangerous thing to mention Austria and then link to an Australian website :-P

Did he have bionic legs?!?!

[multimediavt]

..particularly whether the neurally-controlled arm-prostheses he had been fitted with might have played a role.

Can someone explain to me how bionic arms would be the cause of the crash, considering your arms are not used in controlling the velocity of a vehicle? His legs work! The brake pedal is the middle one, or one on the left (left-side drive). Sounds like the idiot was just going too damn fast! Darwin wins again. Shame.

Neural Target Fixation?

[Anonymous Coward]

Anyone who's learned to ride a motorcycle knows this danger...you see a hazard and all of a sudden you are riding straight towards it. I wonder if this was the neural version? In a panic situation, all he could think about was the tree dead ahead, and the arms performed as directed...:(

Gentlemen...

[Anonymous Coward]

... we can rebuild him. We have the technology to make him better than he was before. Better. Stronger. Faster.

T-101

[Cur8or]

Was that arm perhaps a spare part from a decommissioned terminator?

Re:Seriously?

[Synonymous Homonym]

I think it is also interesting that the Sidney Mourning Herald writes he was "the first person outside the US" to have bionic arms, and the Kleine Zeitung writes he was "the first person in the world" to have thought controlled arm protheses he could feel with.