Slashdot Mirror
New Interface Could Wire Prosthetics Directly Into Amputees' Nervous Systems
cylonlover writes "Scientists at Sandia National Laboratories have announced a breakthrough in prosthetics that may one day allow artificial limbs to be controlled by their wearers as naturally as organic ones, as well as providing sensations of touch and feeling. The scientists have developed a new interface consisting of a porous, flexible, conductive, biocompatible material through which nerve fibers can grow and act as a sort of junction through which nerve impulses can pass to the prosthesis and data from the prosthesis back to the nerve. If this new interface is successful, it has the potential to one day allow nerves to be connected directly to artificial limbs."
Stop punching yourself.
Stop punching yourself.
Stop punching yourself.
They aren't by chance starting a company called Sarif are they?
I know this is still a research project and they don't know how well it's actually going to work in practice, but the fact that we're approaching a machine-nerve interface at all is incredible. If they are successful, they will end up with a permanent, prominent place in our history books.
Good work, people.
Excellent! Now we can build Copters, Thinkers, Drop Pods and start work on the The Cyborg Factory.
"Don't feel bad for me child; I'm the monster that hides under your bed."
You'd better add a spell checker to that list of things you want implanted.
Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
Are cyborgs safe from becomming zombies?
If so- I want all my body parts converted to artificial parts BEFORE the zombie apocalypse. Afterwards it would be too late.
"That's the way to do it" - Punch
Overlords? You need to step up to the hacker challenge.
Step one: Install root kit in 7 of 9's interface. Step two: Party!
Have gnu, will travel.
I think, and my thoughts cross the barrier into the synapses of the machine - just as the good doctor intended.
But what I cannot shake, and what hints at things to come, is that thoughts cross back.
In my dreams the sensibility of the machine invades the periphery of my consciousness.
Dark. Rigid. Cold. Alien.
Evolution is at work here, but just what is evolving remains to be seen.
-- Commissioner Pravin Lal,
"Man and Machine"
I am a doctor. In fact, I am a neurologist (IAAN). This article is fascinating, and I hope they keep working on this technology and get it working. That being said, I would never plug one of these things into my own amputated limb. Going to medical school and doing residency have turned me into something of a Luddite. Medical technology is cool, but every treatment has potential benefits and toxicities. The adverse event I would worry about most with this technology is neuropathic pain. Neuropathic pain is notoriously difficult to treat. What if you plugged this device into some amputee's limb and gave them excruciating pain? I would rather have a metal hook for a hand.
Rooting her kit comments in five... four...
Ignore this signature. By order.
2)Organics do minor self repair, for free (if time+ food = free). They are built to accept the minor damage it gives (see option 1) above.
3) Organic maintenance is limited and automatic inbuilt. We call it SLEEP. Electronic maintenance involves constant attention to detail - oils, software patches, etc.
4) Organics are evolved/designed to run far inside maximum tolerances. In extreme circumstances, they have hidden reserves that suddenly become accessible.
5) Organics are self-replicating. No need for a factory.
excitingthingstodo.blogspot.com
It'd make sense to retain the pain response for the purposes of avoiding damage - the mechanics of the arm might handle high temperature for a while, but the plastic artificial skin would melt on contact.
I'm not so sure about that at all. In order for there to be a grown neural interface, there has to be a component that merges with the flesh, what you refer to as a connector (and which I think of as a mount point, like a gun turret.)
My concern is not just the failure of the attached prosthetic, which could be detached and repaired as you suggest, but the components of the neural interface itself. I think it's far more likely that as time progresses, such devices would be designed and built with the idea of being a permanent and unremovable replacement limb, eye, or ear, which brings me back to the question on how to repair such devices.
It's too early to worry about such issues, but it's not too early to start talking about them.
I do not fail; I succeed at finding out what does not work.
If this new interface is successful
As with so many articles I see about "breakthroughs", this is the key bit. The researchers probably just needed another round of funding so they released some information about it. Call me when we actually have serious trials and it's about to start final testing.
You know the thing about UDP jokes? I don't care if you get it or not.
This has been done already a long time ago in a galaxy far far away.
If you do what you always did, you get what you always got.