[curiousuburb]

For those who remember

I was getting my daily dose of science teevee last night and saw this...

Bionic leg? The Six Million Dollar Man may have been science fiction back in the late seventies, but this story proves that in 2004, the world of bionics is quickly catching up... Windows Media Video about 3 minutes.

Very impressive... and almost off the shelf parts for about $35K instead of $6M!


And just when I thought that was pretty cool... two stories later:
a Nanotech lab with Scanning Tunneling Microscope manipulating individual atoms.

Moving atoms Zooming in like never before... we delve into the world of Nano-technology and take a close-up look at some atoms. Windows Media Video

Technological progress is teh win!!

[johnq]

Great, I can't wait for us to be able to send our amputees back into battle. No legs? No problem, soldier! And quads can have guns mounted in place of arms.

The usual military applications/perversions await.

[Kickaha]

Tinfoil hats, enter stage left.

[johnq]

Um, more like cynicism, not conspiracy theory.

But you can't deny the military wouldn't love soldiers that you could just swap some fresh limbs on and send 'em back out.

[Crusader]

Originally Posted by johnq Um, more like cynicism, not conspiracy theory. But you can't deny the military wouldn't love soldiers that you could just swap some fresh limbs on and send 'em back out.

I can think of some other groups that may want to switch in new 'limbs' and send them back onto the 'battlefield' ;-)

[johnq]

make love, not war

[curiousuburb]

Well the Lithium Polymer batteries do get cleverly recharged on each downstroke.

[Axl]

Originally Posted by johnq Great, I can't wait for us to be able to send our amputees back into battle. No legs? No problem, soldier! And quads can have guns mounted in place of arms. The usual military applications/perversions await.

You don't even have to be an amputee
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3502194.stm

[Koodari]

I'd like to see some manipulators. Why stick to imitating human legs?

Seriously, this is some cool technology, and I think the peaceful applications are going to be much more important than military applications. That includes the exoskeleton.

[curiousuburb]

Got a few to pick from already...

ISS "CanadaHand" for the Station's CanadArm2, built by Canucks (called for help with Hubble)

NASA has a Serpentine Manipulator planned

Robonaut has arms, but no 'legs' per se.

[johnq]

What the? I though that was a photoshop job, but robonaut's head is damn close to the Jango/Boba/Clonetrooper helmets, in a cool/not so cool kind of way.

Not sure if I want to see that thing looking at me.

[curiousuburb]

There have been some studies of the appropriate 'face' for optimal sensor placement, as well as some human interaction studies (some Japanese) about the 'creep factor' involved in poor anthropomorphizing. MIT has a couple of interaction bots specifically for facial modeling and interaction studies.

As to whether NASA designers are influenced by science fiction... probably at some level.

[curiousuburb]

It is somewhat similar, but it's also reminiscent of some early mediterranean helmets.

[johnq]

Well, no doubt that style is based on ancient helmets, Spartan/Roman etc...but the first pic is straight up Boba Fett. Nothing wrong with it, but maybe ruthless killer isn't the best association? Well, it is to all geeks and kids maybe that is a plus after all.

[curiousuburb]

And to be fair, both the CanadaHand and Robonaut are more robot/android than "bionic".
They just happened to be the first examples of manipulators I could link in reply.