Bionics or biologically inspired engineering is the application of biological methods and systems found in nature to the study and design of engineering systems and modern technology.
According to proponents of bionic technology, the transfer of technology
between lifeforms and manufactured objects is desirable because
evolutionary pressure typically forces living organisms—fauna and
flora—to become optimized and efficient. For example, dirt- and
water-repellent paint (coating) was inspired by the hydrophobic
properties of the lotus flower plant (the lotus effect).
The term "biomimetic" is preferred for references to chemical reactions, such as reactions that, in nature, involve biological macromolecules (e.g., enzymes or nucleic acids) whose chemistry can be replicated in vitro using much smaller molecules.
Examples of bionics in engineering include the hulls of boats imitating the thick skin of dolphins or sonar, radar, and medical ultrasound imaging imitating animal echolocation.
A 2006 research article estimated that "at present there is only a 12% overlap between biology and technology in terms of the mechanisms used".
History
The name "biomimetics" was coined by Otto Schmitt in the 1950s. The term "bionics" was later introduced by Jack E. Steele in August 1958 while working at the Aeronautics Division House at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio.
However, terms like biomimicry or biomimetics are preferred in order to
avoid confusion with the medical term "bionics." Coincidentally, Martin Caidin used the word for his 1972 novel Cyborg, which was adapted into the television film and subsequent series The Six Million Dollar Man. Caidin was a long-time aviation industry writer before turning to fiction full-time.
Methods
Velcro was inspired by the tiny hooks found on the surface of burs.
The study of bionics often emphasizes implementing a function found
in nature rather than imitating biological structures. For example, in
computer science, cybernetics models the feedback and control mechanisms that are inherent in intelligent behavior, while artificial intelligence models the intelligent function regardless of the particular way it can be achieved.
The conscious copying of examples and mechanisms from natural organisms and ecologies is a form of applied case-based reasoning, treating nature itself as a database of solutions that already work. Proponents argue that the selective pressure placed on all natural life forms minimizes and removes failures.
Although almost all engineering could be said to be a form of biomimicry, the modern origins of this field are usually attributed to Buckminster Fuller and its later codification as a house or field of study to Janine Benyus.
There are generally three biological levels in the fauna or flora after which technology can be modeled:
Mimicking natural methods of manufacture
Imitating mechanisms found in nature (e.g. velcro)
In robotics, bionics and biomimetics are used to apply the way animals move to the design of robots. BionicKangaroo was based on the movements and physiology of kangaroos.
Velcro is the most famous example of biomimetics. In 1948, the Swiss engineer George de Mestral was cleaning his dog of burrs picked up on a walk when he realized how the hooks of the burrs clung to the fur.
The horn-shaped, saw-tooth design for lumberjack
blades used at the turn of the 19th century to cut down trees when it
was still done by hand was modeled after observations of a
wood-burrowing beetle. The blades were significantly more efficient and thus revolutionized the timber industry.
Cat's eye reflectors were invented by Percy Shaw in 1935 after studying the mechanism of cat eyes. He had found that cats had a system of reflecting cells, known as tapetum lucidum, which was capable of reflecting the tiniest bit of light.
Leonardo da Vinci's flying machines and ships are early examples of drawing from nature in engineering.
Resilin is a replacement for rubber that has been created by studying the material also found in arthropods.
Julian Vincent drew from the study of pinecones when he developed in 2004 "smart" clothing that adapts to changing temperatures. "I wanted a nonliving system
which would respond to changes in moisture by changing shape," he said.
"There are several such systems in plants, but most are very small—the
pinecone is the largest and therefore the easiest to work on." Pinecones
respond to higher humidity by opening their scales (to disperse their
seeds). The "smart" fabric does the same thing, opening up when the
wearer is warm and sweating and shutting tight when cold.
"Morphing aircraft wings" that change shape according to the speed
and duration of flight were designed in 2004 by biomimetic scientists
from Penn State University.
The morphing wings were inspired by different bird species that have
differently shaped wings according to the speed at which they fly. In
order to change the shape and underlying structure of the aircraft
wings, the researchers needed to make the overlying skin also be able to
change, which their design does by covering the wings with
fish-inspired scales that could slide over each other. In some respects
this is a refinement of the swing-wing design.
Some paints and roof tiles have been engineered to be self-cleaning by copying the mechanism from the Nelumbo lotus.
Cholesteric liquid crystals (CLCs) are the thin-film material often used to fabricate fish tank thermometers or mood rings that change color with temperature changes. They change color because their molecules are arranged in a helical or chiral arrangement and with temperature the pitch of that helical structure changes, reflecting different wavelengths of light. Chiral Photonics, Inc.
has abstracted the self-assembled structure of the organic CLCs to
produce analogous optical devices using tiny lengths of inorganic,
twisted glass fiber.
The wing structure of the blue morpho butterfly was studied and the way it reflects light was mimicked to create an RFID tag that can be read through water and on metal.
The wing structure of butterflies has also inspired the creation of new nanosensors to detect explosives.
Techno Ecosystems or 'Eco Cyborg' systems involve the coupling of
natural ecological processes to technological ones which mimic
ecological functions. This results in the creation of a self-regulating
hybrid system. Research into this field was initiated by Howard T. Odum, who perceived the structure and energy dynamics of ecosystems as being analogous to energy flow between components of an electrical circuit.
Medical adhesives involving glue and tiny nano-hairs are being
developed based on the physical structures found in the feet of geckos.
Computer viruses
also show similarities with biological viruses, attacking
program-oriented information towards self-reproduction and
dissemination.
The cooling system of the Eastgate Centre building in Harare was modeled after a termite mound to achieve very efficient passive cooling.
Adhesive which allows mussels to stick to rocks, piers, and boat hulls inspired bioadhesive gel for blood vessels.
The field of bionics has inspired new aircraft designs which offer
greater agility along with other advantages. This has been described by
Geoff Spedding, Måns Rosén, and Anders Hedenström in an article in Journal of Experimental Biology. Similar statements were also made by John Videler and Eize Stamhuis in their book Avian Flight, and in the article they present in Science about LEVs. This research in bionics may also be used to create more efficient helicopters or miniature UAVs, as stated by Bret Tobalske in an article in Science about Hummingbirds. UC Berkeley as well as ESA have been working in a similar direction and created the Robofly (a miniature UAV) and the Entomopter (a UAV which can walk, crawl and fly).
A bio-inspired mechanical device can generate plasma in water via
cavitation using the morphological accurate snapping shrimp claw. This
was described in detail by Xin Tang and David Staack in an article
published in Science Advances.
Specific uses of the term
In medicine
Bionics refers to the flow of concepts from biology to engineering and vice versa. Hence, there are two slightly different points of view regarding the meaning of the word.
In medicine, bionics means the replacement or enhancement of organs or other body parts by mechanical versions. Bionic implants differ from mere prostheses by mimicking the original function very closely, or even surpassing it.
The German equivalent of bionics, Bionik, always adheres
to the broader meaning, in that it tries to develop engineering
solutions from biological models. This approach is motivated by the fact
that biological solutions will usually be optimized by evolutionary forces.
While the technologies that make bionic implants possible are
developing gradually, a few successful bionic devices already exist, a
well known one being the Australian-invented multi-channel cochlear implant (bionic ear), a device for deaf
people. Since the bionic ear, many bionic devices have emerged and work
is progressing on bionics solutions for other sensory disorders (e.g.
vision and balance). Bionic research has recently provided treatments
for medical problems such as neurological and psychiatric conditions,
for example Parkinson's disease and epilepsy.
In 1997, Colombian researcher Alvaro Rios Poveda developed an upper limb and hand prosthesis with sensory feedback. This technology allows amputee patients to handle prosthetic hand systems in a more natural way.
By 2004 fully functional artificial hearts were developed. Significant progress is expected with the advent of nanotechnology. A well-known example of a proposed nanodevice is a respirocyte, an artificial red cell designed (though not yet built) by Robert Freitas.
During his eight years in the Department of Bioengineering at the University of Pennsylvania, Kwabena Boahen developed a siliconretina
that was able to process images in the same manner as a living retina.
He confirmed the results by comparing the electrical signals from his
silicon retina to the electrical signals produced by a salamander eye while the two retinas were looking at the same image.
On July 21, 2015, the BBC's medical correspondent Fergus Walsh
reported, "surgeons in Manchester have performed the first bionic eye
implant in a patient with the most common cause of sight loss in the
developed world. Ray Flynn, 80, has dry age-related macular degeneration
which has led to the total loss of his central vision. He is using a
retinal implant that converts video images from a miniature video camera
worn on his glasses. He can now make out the direction of white lines
on a computer screen using the retinal implant." The implant, known as
the Argus II and manufactured in the US by the company Second Sight Medical Products, had been used previously in patients who were blind as the result of the rare inherited degenerative eye disease retinitis pigmentosa.
In 2016, Tilly Lockey (born October 7, 2005) was fitted with a pair of bionic "Hero Arms" manufactured by OpenBionics,
a UK bionics enterprise. The Hero Arm is a lightweight myoelectric
prosthesis for below-elbow amputee adults and children aged eight and
above. Tilly Lockey, who at 15 months had both her arms amputated after
being diagnosed with meningococcal sepsis strain B, describes the Hero Arms as “really realistic, to the point where it was quite creepy how realistic they were.”
On February 17, 2020, Darren Fuller, a military veteran, became
the first person to receive a bionic arm under a public healthcare
system. Fuller lost the lower section of his right arm while serving term in Afghanistan during an incident that involved mortar ammunition in 2008.
Other uses
Business
biomimetics is the latest development in the application of
biomimetics. Specifically it applies principles and practice from
biological systems to business strategy, process, organization design,
and strategic thinking. It has been successfully used by a range of
industries in FMCG, defense, central government, packaging, and business services. Based on the work by Phil Richardson at the University of Bath the approach was launched at the House of Lords in May 2009.
Generally, biometrics is used as a creativity technique that studies biological prototypes to get ideas for engineering solutions.
Another, more recent meaning of the term bionics refers to
merging organism and machine. This approach results in a hybrid system
combining biological and engineering parts, which can also be referred
as a cybernetic organism (cyborg). Practical realization of this was demonstrated in Kevin Warwick's implant experiments bringing about ultrasound input via his own nervous system.
Alternative names for a cyborg include cybernetic organism, cyber-organism, cyber-organic being, cybernetically enhanced organism, cybernetically augmented organism, technorganic being, techno-organic being, and techno-organism.
D. S. Halacy's Cyborg: Evolution of the Superman
(1965) featured an introduction which spoke of a "new frontier" that
was "not merely space, but more profoundly the relationship between
'inner space' to 'outer space' – a bridge...between mind and matter."
In "A Cyborg Manifesto", Donna Haraway
rejects the notion of rigid boundaries between humanity and technology,
arguing that, as humans depend on more technology over time, humanity
and technology have become too interwoven to draw lines between them.
She believes that since we have allowed and created machines and
technology to be so advanced, there should be no reason to fear what we
have created, and cyborgs should be embraced because they are part of
human identities.
However, Haraway has also expressed concern over the contradictions of
scientific objectivity and the ethics of technological evolution, and
has argued that "There are political consequences to scientific accounts
of the world."
Biosocial definition
According
to some definitions of the term, the physical attachments that humans
have with even the most basic technologies have already made them
cyborgs. In a typical example, a human with an artificial cardiac pacemaker or implantable cardioverter-defibrillator would be considered a cyborg, since these devices measure voltage potentials in the body, perform signal processing, and can deliver electrical stimuli, using a synthetic feedback mechanism to keep that person alive. Implants, especially cochlear implants, that combine mechanical modification with any kind of feedback response are also cybernetic enhancements. Some theorists cite such modifications as contact lenses, hearing aids, smartphones, or intraocular lenses as examples of fitting humans with technology to enhance their biological capabilities.
The emerging trend of implanting microchips inside the body
(mainly the hands), to make financial operations like a contactless
payment, or basic tasks like opening a door, has been erroneously
marketed as more recent examples of cybernetic enhancement. The latter
has not yet seen significant traction outside niche areas in Scandinavia and in actual function is little more than a pre-programmed Radio-frequency identification (RFID) microchip encased in glass that does not interact with the human body (it is the same technology used in the microchips injected into animals for ease of identification), thus not fitting the definition of a cybernetic implant.
As cyborgs currently are on the rise, some theorists argue there is a need to develop new definitions of aging. For instance, a bio-techno-social definition of aging has been suggested.
The term is also used to address human-technology mixtures in the
abstract. This includes not only commonly-used pieces of technology
such as phones, computers, the Internet, and so on, but also artifacts that are not usually considered technology; for example, pen and paper, and speech and language.
When augmented with these technologies and connected in communication
with people in other times and places, a person becomes capable of more
than they were before. An example is a computer, which gains power by
using Internet protocols to connect with other computers. Another example is a social-media bot—either a bot-assisted human or a human-assisted-bot—used to target social media with likes and shares. Cybernetic technologies thus include highways, pipes, electrical wiring, buildings, electrical plants, libraries, and other infrastructural constructs.
Bruce Sterling, in his Shaper/Mechanist universe,
suggested an idea of an alternative cyborg called 'Lobster', which is
made not by using internal implants, but by using an external shell
(e.g. a powered exoskeleton). Unlike human cyborgs, who appear human externally but are synthetic internally (e.g., the Bishop type in the Alien franchise), Lobster looks inhuman externally but contains a human internally (such as in Elysium and RoboCop). The computer game Deus Ex: Invisible War prominently features cyborgs called Omar, Russian for 'lobster'.
Evolutionary perspective
In 1994, Hans Hass formulated a scientific view of the human-machine hybrids he called "hypercells".
They can expand their biological cell body with artificial artifacts
and thus expand their performance body. The theory of hypercells or
"Homo proteus", as Hass called the human-machine hybrid to distinguish Homo sapiens, extends Charles Darwin's theory of evolution and deals with the course of evolution beyond humans.
In his 2019 book Novacene, James Lovelock
used the term "cyborgs" to refer to the next generation of beings who
will become the "understanders of the future" and "lead the cosmos to
self-knowledge". While acknowledging the organic component in Clynes'
and Kline's definition, he proposed that these cyborgs "will have
designed and built themselves from the artificial intelligence
systems we have already constructed", and used the term cyborg "to
emphasize that the new intelligent beings will have arisen, like us,
from Darwinian evolution."
Origins
Engraving by an unknown author depicting a man-machine hybrid, 1569
The concept of a man-machine mixture was widespread in science fiction before World War II. As early as 1843, Edgar Allan Poe described a man with extensive prostheses in the short story "The Man That Was Used Up". In 1911, Jean de La Hire introduced the Nyctalope, a science fiction hero who was perhaps the first literary cyborg, in Le Mystère des XV [fr] (later translated as The Nyctalope on Mars).Nearly two decades later, Edmond Hamilton presented space explorers with a mixture of organic and machine parts in his 1928 novel The Comet Doom.
He later featured the talking, living brain of an old scientist, Simon
Wright, floating in a transparent case, and in all the adventures of his
famous hero, Captain Future. In 1944, in the short story "No Woman Born", C. L. Moore
wrote of Deirdre, a dancer, whose body was burned completely and whose
brain was placed in a faceless but beautiful and supple mechanical body.
For the exogenously extended organizational complex functioning as an integrated homeostatic system unconsciously, we propose the term 'Cyborg'.
Their concept was the outcome of thinking about the need for an
intimate relationship between human and machine as the new frontier of
space exploration was beginning to develop. A designer of physiological
instrumentation and electronic data-processing systems, Clynes was the
chief research scientist in the Dynamic Simulation Laboratory at Rockland State Hospital in New York.
The term first appears in print 5 months earlier when The New York Times reported on the "Psychophysiological Aspects of Space Flight Symposium" where Clynes and Kline first presented their paper:
A cyborg is essentially a
man-machine system in which the control mechanisms of the human portion
are modified externally by drugs or regulatory devices so that the being
can live in an environment different from the normal one.
Thereafter, Hamilton would first use the term "cyborg" explicitly in
the 1962 short story, "After a Judgment Day", to describe the
"mechanical analogs" called "Charlies," explaining that "[c]yborgs, they
had been called from the first one in the 1960s...cybernetic
organisms."
In 2001, a book titled Cyborg: Digital Destiny and Human Possibility in the Age of the Wearable computer was published by Doubleday. Some of the ideas in the book were incorporated into the documentary film Cyberman that same year.
Cyborg tissues in engineering
Cyborg tissues structured with carbon nanotubes and plant or fungal cells have been used in artificial tissue engineering to produce new materials for mechanical and electrical uses.
Such work was presented by Raffaele Di Giacomo, Bruno Maresca, and others, at the Materials Research Society's spring conference on 3 April 2013. The cyborg obtained was inexpensive, light and had unique mechanical properties. It could also be shaped in the desired forms. Cells combined with multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) co-precipitated as a specific aggregate of cells and nanotubes that formed a viscous material. Likewise, dried cells still acted as a stable matrix for the MWCNT network. When observed by optical microscopy, the material resembled an artificial "tissue" composed of highly packed cells. The effect of cell drying was manifested by their "ghost cell" appearance. A rather specific physical interaction between MWCNTs and cells was observed by electron microscopy, suggesting that the cell wall (the outermost part of fungal and plant cells) may play a major active role in establishing a carbon nanotube's
network and its stabilization. This novel material can be used in a
wide range of electronic applications, from heating to sensing. For
instance, using Candida albicans cells, a species of yeast that often lives inside the human gastrointestinal tract, cyborg tissue materials with temperature sensing properties have been reported.
In current prosthetic applications, the C-Leg system developed by Otto Bock HealthCare, is used to replace a human leg that has been amputated
because of injury or illness. The use of sensors in the artificial
C-Leg aids in walking significantly by attempting to replicate the
user's natural gait, as it would be prior to amputation.
A similar system is being developed by the Swedish orthopedic company
Integrum, the OPRA Implant System, which is surgically anchored and
integrated by means of osseointegration into the skeleton of the remainder of the amputated limb.
The same company has developed e-OPRA, a will-powered upper limb
prosthesis system that is being evaluated in a clinical trial to allow
sensory input to the central nervous system using pressure and temperature sensors in the prosthesis' finger tips.[ Prostheses like the C-Leg, the e-OPRA Implant System, and the iLimb, are considered by some to be the first real steps towards the next generation of real-world cyborg applications. Additionally, cochlear implants and magnetic implants, which provide people with a sense that they would not otherwise have had, can additionally be thought of as creating cyborgs.
In vision science, direct brain implants have been used to treat non-congenital (acquired) blindness. One of the first scientists to come up with a working brain interface to restore sight was private researcher William Dobelle.
Dobelle's first prototype was implanted into "Jerry", a man blinded in adulthood, in 1978. A single-array BCI containing 68 electrodes was implanted onto Jerry's visual cortex and succeeded in producing phosphenes,
the sensation of seeing light. The system included cameras mounted on
glasses to send signals to the implant. Initially, the implant allowed
Jerry to see shades of grey in a limited field of vision at a low
frame-rate. This also required him to be hooked up to a two-ton mainframe,
but shrinking electronics and faster computers made his artificial eye
more portable and now enable him to perform simple tasks unassisted.
In 1997, Philip Kennedy, a scientist and physician, created the world's first human cyborg from Johnny Ray, a Vietnam War veteran who suffered a stroke. Ray's body, as doctors called it, was "locked in". Ray wanted his old life back so he agreed to Kennedy's experiment. Kennedy embedded an implant he designed (and named a "neurotrophic electrode")
near the injured part of Ray's brain so that Ray would be able to have
some movement back in his body. The surgery went successfully, but in
2002, Ray died.
In 2002, Canadian Jens Naumann,
also blinded in adulthood, became the first in a series of 16 paying
patients to receive Dobelle's second-generation implant, marking one of
the earliest commercial uses of BCIs. The second-generation device used a
more sophisticated implant enabling better mapping of phosphenes into
coherent vision. Phosphenes are spread out across the visual field in
what researchers call the starry-night effect. Immediately after his
implant, Naumann was able to use his imperfectly restored vision to
drive slowly around the parking area of the research institute.
In contrast to replacement technologies, in 2002, under the heading Project Cyborg, a British scientist, Kevin Warwick, had an array of 100 electrodes fired into his nervous system
to link his nervous system into the internet to investigate enhancement
possibilities. With this in place, Warwick successfully carried out a
series of experiments including extending his nervous system over the
internet to control a robotic hand,
also receiving feedback from the fingertips to control the hand's grip.
This was a form of extended sensory input. Subsequently, he
investigated ultrasonic input to remotely detect the distance to objects.
Finally, with electrodes also implanted into his wife's nervous system,
they conducted the first direct electronic communication experiment
between the nervous systems of two humans.
Since 2004, British artist Neil Harbisson has had a cyborg antenna implanted in his head that allows him to extend his perception of colors beyond the human visual spectrum through vibrations in his skull. His antenna was included within his 2004 passport photograph which has been said to confirm his cyborg status. In 2012 at TEDGlobal,
Harbisson explained that he started to feel like a cyborg when he
noticed that the software and his brain had united and given him an
extra sense. Harbisson is a co-founder of the Cyborg Foundation (2004) and cofounded the Transpecies Society
in 2017, which is an association that empowers individuals with
non-human identities and supports them in their decisions to develop
unique senses and new organs. Neil Harbisson is a global advocate for the rights of cyborgs.
Rob Spence, a Toronto-based filmmaker, who titles himself a real-life "Eyeborg", severely damaged his right eye in a shooting accident on his grandfather's farm as a child.
Many years later, in 2005, he decided to have his ever-deteriorating and now technically blind eye surgically removed, whereafter he wore an eyepatch
for some time before he later, after having played for some time with
the idea of installing a camera instead, contacted professor Steve Mann at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, an expert in wearable computing and cyborg technology.
Under Mann's guidance, Spence, at age 36, created a prototype in
the form of the miniature camera which could be fitted inside his prosthetic eye; an invention that would come to be named by Time magazine as one of the best inventions of 2009. The bionic eye records everything he sees and contains a 1.5 mm2, low-resolution video camera, a small round printed circuit board, a wireless video transmitter, which allows him to transmit what he is seeing in real-time to a computer, and a 3-voltrechargeableVARTAmicrobattery. The eye is not connected to his brain and has not restored his sense of vision. Additionally, Spence has also installed a laser-like LED light in one version of the prototype.
Furthermore, many people with multifunctional radio frequency identification (RFID) microchips injected into a hand are known to exist. With the chips they are able to swipe cards, open or unlock doors, operate devices such as printers or, with some using cryptocurrency, buy products, such as drinks, with a wave of the hand.
bodyNET
bodyNET is an application of human-electronic interaction currently in development by researchers from Stanford University. The technology is based on stretchable semiconductor materials (Elastronic). According to their article in Nature, the technology is composed of smart devices,
screens, and a network of sensors that can be implanted into the body,
woven into the skin or worn as clothes. It has been suggested that this
platform can potentially replace the smartphone in the future.
In medicine, there are two important and different types of cyborgs:
the restorative and the enhanced. Restorative technologies "restore lost
function, organs, and limbs."
The key aspect of restorative cyborgization is the repair of broken or
missing processes to revert to a healthy or average level of function.
There is no enhancement to the original faculties and processes that
were lost.
On the contrary, the enhanced cyborg "follows a principle, and it
is the principle of optimal performance: maximising output (the
information or modifications obtained) and minimising input (the energy
expended in the process)". Thus, the enhanced cyborg intends to exceed normal processes or even gain new functions that were not originally present.
Prosthetics
Although
prostheses in general supplement lost or damaged body parts with the
integration of a mechanical artifice, bionic implants in medicine allow
model organs or body parts to mimic the original function more closely. Michael Chorost wrote a memoir of his experience with cochlear implants, or bionic ears, titled Rebuilt: How Becoming Part Computer Made Me More Human. Jesse Sullivan became one of the first people to operate a fully robotic limb through a nerve-muscle graft, enabling him a complex range of motions beyond that of previous prosthetics. By 2004, a fully functioning artificial heart was developed. The continued technological development of bionic and (bio-)nanotechnologies
begins to raise the question of enhancement, and of the future
possibilities for cyborgs which surpass the original functionality of
the biological model. The ethics and desirability of "enhancement
prosthetics" have been debated; their proponents include the transhumanist movement,
with its belief that new technologies can assist the human race in
developing beyond its present, normative limitations such as aging and disease, as well as other, more general inabilities, such as limitations on speed, strength, endurance, and intelligence.
Opponents of the concept describe what they believe to be biases which
propel the development and acceptance of such technologies; namely, a
bias towards functionality and efficiency that may compel assent to a
view of human people which de-emphasizes as defining characteristics
actual manifestations of humanity and personhood, in favor of definition in terms of upgrades, versions, and utility.
Retinal implants
are another form of cyborgization in medicine. The theory behind
retinal stimulation to restore vision for those suffering from retinitis pigmentosa and vision loss due to aging (conditions in which people have an abnormally low number of retinal ganglion cells),
is that the retinal implant and electrical stimulation would act as a
substitute for the missing ganglion cells (cells which connect the eye
to the brain).
While the work to perfect this technology is still being done,
there have already been major advances in the use of electronic
stimulation of the retina to allow the eye to sense patterns of light. A
specialized camera is worn by the subject, such as on the frames of
their glasses, which converts the image into a pattern of electrical
stimulation. A chip located in the user's eye would then electrically
stimulate the retina with this pattern by exciting certain nerve endings
which transmit the image to the optic centers of the brain, and the
image would then appear to the user. If technological advances proceed
as planned, this technology may be used by thousands of blind people and
restore vision to most of them.
A similar process has been created to aid people who have lost their vocal cords. This experimental device would do away with previously used robotic-sounding voice simulators.
The transmission of sound would start with a surgery to redirect the
nerve that controls the voice and sound production to a muscle in the
neck, where a nearby sensor would be able to pick up its electrical signals. The signals would then move to a processor which would control the timing and pitch
of a voice simulator. That simulator would then vibrate producing a
multi-tonal sound that could be shaped into words by the mouth.
An article published in Nature Materials
in 2012 reported research on "cyborg tissues" (engineered human tissues
with embedded three-dimensional mesh of nanoscale wires), with possible
medical implications.
In 2014, researchers from the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign and Washington University in St. Louis had developed a device that could keep a heart beating endlessly. By using 3D printing and computer modeling, these scientists developed an electronic membrane
that could successfully replace pacemakers. The device uses a
"spider-web like network of sensors and electrodes" to monitor and
maintain a normal heart rate
with electrical stimuli. Unlike traditional pacemakers that are similar
from patient to patient, the elastic heart glove is made custom by
using high-resolution imaging technology. The first prototype was
created to fit a rabbit's heart, operating the organ in an oxygen and nutrient-rich solution. The stretchable material and circuits of the apparatus were first constructed by Professor John A. Rogers
in which the electrodes are arranged in an s-shape design to allow them
to expand and bend without breaking. Although the device is only
currently used as a research tool to study changes in heart rate, in the
future the membrane may serve as a safeguard against heart attacks.
Neural enhancement and restoration
A brain–computer interface,
or BCI, provides a direct path of communication from the brain to an
external device, effectively creating a cyborg. Research into invasive
BCIs, which use electrodes implanted directly into the grey matter of the brain, has focused on restoring damaged eyesight in the blind and providing functionality to paralyzed people, most notably those with severe cases, such as locked-in syndrome. This technology could enable people who are missing a limb or are in a wheelchair
the power to control the devices that aid them through neural signals
sent from the brain implants directly to computers or the devices. It is
possible that this technology will also eventually be used with healthy
people.
Automated insulin delivery systems, colloquially also known as the "artificial pancreas", are a substitute for the lack of natural insulin production by the body, most notably in Type 1 Diabetes. Currently available systems combine a continuous glucose monitor with an insulin pump that can be remote controlled, forming a control loop that automatically adjusts the insulin dosage depending on the current blood glucose level. Examples of commercial systems that implement such a control loop are the MiniMed 670G from Medtronic and the t:slim x2 from Tandem Diabetes Care. Do-it-yourself artificial pancreas technologies also exist, though these are not verified or approved by any regulatory agency. Upcoming next-generation artificial pancreas technologies include automatic glucagon infusion in addition to insulin, to help prevent hypoglycemia and improve efficiency. One example of such a bi-hormonal system is the Beta BionicsiLet.
Military organizations' research has recently focused on the use of
cyborg animals for the purposes of a supposed tactical advantage. DARPA has announced its interest in developing "cyborg insects" to transmit data from sensors implanted into the insect during the pupa stage. The insect's motion would be controlled from a microelectromechanical system (MEMS) and could conceivably survey an environment or detect explosives and gas. Similarly, DARPA is developing a neural
implant to remotely control the movement of sharks. The shark's unique
senses would then be exploited to provide data feedback in relation to
enemy ship movement or underwater explosives.
In 2006, researchers at Cornell University invented a new surgical procedure to implant artificial structures into insects during their metamorphic development. The first insect cyborgs, moths with integrated electronics in their thorax, were demonstrated by the same researchers. The
initial success of the techniques has resulted in increased research
and the creation of a program called Hybrid-Insect-MEMS (HI-MEMS). Its
goal, according to DARPA's Microsystems Technology Office,
is to develop "tightly coupled machine-insect interfaces by placing
micro-mechanical systems inside the insects during the early stages of
metamorphosis."
The use of neural implants has recently been attempted, with
success, on cockroaches. Surgically applied electrodes were put on the
insect, which was remotely controlled by a human. The results, although
sometimes different, basically showed that the cockroach could be
controlled by the impulses it received through the electrodes. DARPA is
now funding this research because of its obvious beneficial applications
to the military and other areas.
In 2009 at the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) MEMS conference in Italy, researchers demonstrated the first "wireless" flying-beetle cyborg. Engineers at the University of California, Berkeley, have pioneered the design of a "remote-controlled beetle", funded by the DARPA HI-MEMS Program. This was followed later that year by the demonstration of wireless control of a "lift-assisted" moth-cyborg.
Eventually researchers plan to develop HI-MEMS for dragonflies, bees, rats, and pigeons. For the HI-MEMS cybernetic
bug to be considered a success, it must fly 100 metres (330 ft) from a
starting point, guided via computer into a controlled landing within 5
metres (16 ft) of a specific end point. Once landed, the cybernetic bug
must remain in place.
In 2020, an article published in Science Robotics by researchers at the University of Washington reported a mechanically steerable wireless camera attached to beetles. Miniature cameras weighing 248 mg were attached to live beetles of the Tenebrionid genera Asbolus and Eleodes.
The camera wirelessly streamed video to a smartphone via Bluetooth for
up to 6 hours and the user could remotely steer the camera to achieve a
bug's-eye view.
In 2016, Cybathlon
became the first cyborg 'Olympics'; celebrated in Zurich, Switzerland,
it was the first worldwide and official celebration of cyborg sports. In
this event, 16 teams of people with disabilities used technological
developments to turn themselves into cyborg athletes. There were 6
different events and its competitors used and controlled advanced
technologies such as powered prosthetic legs and arms, robotic exoskeletons, bikes, and motorized wheelchairs.
This was already a remarkable improvement, as it allowed disabled
people to compete and showed the several technological enhancements
that are already making a difference; however, it showed that there is
still a long way to go. For instance, the exoskeleton race still
required its participants to stand up from a chair and sit down,
navigate a slalom
and other simple activities such as walking over stepping stones and
climbing up and down stairs. Despite the simplicity of these activities,
8 of the 16 teams that participated in the event drop off before the
start.
Nonetheless, one of the main goals of this event and such simple
activities is to show how technological enhancements and advanced
prosthetics can make a difference in people's lives. The next Cybathlon
that was expected to occur in 2020, was cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The concept of the cyborg is often associated with science fiction.
However, many artists have incorporated and reappropriated the idea of
cybernetic organisms into their work, using disparate aesthetics and
often realising actual cyborg constructs; their works range from
performances, to paintings and installations. Some of the pioneering
artists who created such works are H. R. Giger, Stelarc, Orlan, Shu Lea Cheang, Lee Bul, Tim Hawkinson, Steve Mann, Patricia Piccinini. More recently, this type of artistic practice has been expanded upon by artists such as Marco Donnarumma, Wafaa Bilal, Neil Harbisson, Moon Ribas, Manel De Aguas and Quimera Rosa.
Stelarc is a performance artist who has visually probed and
acoustically amplified his body. He uses medical instruments,
prosthetics, robotics, virtual reality systems, the Internet and
biotechnology to explore alternate, intimate and involuntary interfaces
with the body. He has made three films of the inside of his body and has
performed with a third hand and a virtual arm. Between 1976 and 1988 he
completed 25 body suspension performances with hooks into the skin. For
'Third Ear', he surgically constructed an extra ear within his arm that
was internet-enabled, making it a publicly accessible acoustical organ
for people in other places. He is presently performing as his avatar from his second life site.
Tim Hawkinson promotes the idea that bodies and machines are
coming together as one, where human features are combined with
technology to create the Cyborg. Hawkinson's piece Emoter presented how society is now dependent on technology.
Marco Donnarumma is a performance artist and new media artist.
In his work the body becomes a morphing language to speak critically of
ritual, power and technology. For his "7 Configurations" cycle, between
2014 and 2019, he engineered and created six AI prostheses, each embodying an uncanny configuration of the machinic with the organic.
The prostheses – designed together with a team of artists and
scientists – are useless prostheses, paradoxical objects designed for
the body, but not to enhance it, rather to subtract functions from it: a
skin-cutting robot with a steel metal knife, a facial prosthesis which
blocks the wearer’s gaze with a mechanical arm, and two robotic spines
that function as additional limbs without a body. The prostheses have
been created to act as performers with their own agency, that is, to
interact with their human partners without being controlled externally.
The machines are embedded with biomimetic neural networks, information
processing algorithms inspired by the biological nervous system
of mammals. Developed by Donnarumma in collaboration with the
Neurorobotics Research Laboratory (DE), these neural networks endow the
machines with artificial cognitive and sensorimotor skills.
Wafaa Bilal is an Iraqi-American performance artist who had a
small 10-megapixel digital camera surgically implanted into the back of
his head, part of a project entitled 3rd I. For one year, beginning 15 December 2010, an image was captured once per minute 24 hours a day and streamed live to www.3rdi.me and the Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art.
The site also displays Bilal's location via GPS. Bilal says that the
reason why he put the camera in the back of the head was to make an
"allegorical statement about the things we don't see and leave behind." As a professor at NYU,
this project raised privacy issues, and so Bilal was asked to ensure
that his camera did not take photographs in NYU buildings.
Machines are becoming more ubiquitous in the artistic process itself, with computerized drawing pads replacing pen and paper, and drum machines becoming nearly as popular as human drummers. Composers such as Brian Eno have developed and used software that can build entire musical scores from a few basic mathematical parameters.
Scott Draves is a generative artist whose work is explicitly described as a "cyborg mind". His Electric Sheep project generates abstract art by combining the work of many computers and people over the internet.
Artists as cyborgs
Artists have explored the term cyborg
from a perspective involving imagination. Some work to make an abstract
idea of technological and human-bodily union apparent to reality in an
art form using varying mediums, from sculptures and drawings to digital
renderings.
Artists who seek to make cyborg-based fantasies a reality often call
themselves cyborg artists, or may consider their artwork
"cyborg". How an artist or their work may be considered cyborg will vary
depending upon the interpreter's flexibility with the term.
Scholars that rely upon a strict, technical description of a cyborg, often going by Norbert Wiener's cybernetic theory and Manfred E. Clynes and Nathan S. Kline's first use of the term, would likely argue that most cyborg artists do not qualify to be considered cyborgs. Scholars considering a more flexible description of cyborgs may argue it incorporates more than cybernetics.
Others may speak of defining subcategories, or specialized cyborg
types, that qualify different levels of cyborg at which technology
influences an individual. This may range from technological instruments
being external, temporary, and removable to being fully integrated and
permanent.
Nonetheless, cyborg artists are artists. Being so, it can be expected
for them to incorporate the cyborg idea rather than a strict, technical
representation of the term, seeing how their work will sometimes revolve around other purposes outside of cyborgism.
In body modification
As
medical technology becomes more advanced, some techniques and
innovations are adopted by the body modification community. While not
yet cyborgs in the strict definition of Manfred Clynes and Nathan Kline,
technological developments like implantable silicon silk electronics, augmented reality and QR codes are bridging the disconnect between technology and the body. Hypothetical technologies such as digital tattoo interfaces would blend body modification aesthetics with interactivity and functionality, bringing a transhumanist way of life into present day reality.
In addition, it is quite plausible for anxiety expression to
manifest. Individuals may experience pre-implantation feelings of fear
and nervousness. To this end, individuals may also embody feelings of
uneasiness, particularly in a socialized setting, due to their
post-operative, technologically augmented bodies, and mutual
unfamiliarity with the mechanical insertion. Anxieties may be linked to
notions of otherness or a cyborged identity.
In space
Sending
humans to space is a dangerous task in which the implementation of
various cyborg technologies could be used in the future for risk
mitigation. Stephen Hawking,
a renowned physicist, stated "Life on Earth is at the ever-increasing
risk of being wiped out by a disaster such as sudden global warming,
nuclear war ... I think the human race has no future if it doesn't go
into space." The difficulties associated with space travel could mean it
might be centuries before humans ever become a multi-planet species. There are many effects of spaceflight on the human body.
One major issue of space exploration is the biological need for oxygen.
If this necessity was taken out of the equation, space exploration
would be revolutionized. A theory proposed by Manfred E. Clynes and
Nathan S. Kline is aimed at tackling this problem. The two scientists
theorized that the use of an inverse fuel cell that is "capable of
reducing CO2 to its components with the removal of the carbon and
re-circulation of the oxygen ..." could make breathing unnecessary. Another prominent issue is radiation
exposure. Yearly, the average human on earth is exposed to
approximately 0.30 rem of radiation, while an astronaut aboard the
International Space Station for 90 days is exposed to 9 rem.
To tackle the issue, Clynes and Kline theorized a cyborg containing a
sensor that would detect radiation levels and a Rose osmotic pump "which
would automatically inject protective pharmaceuticals in appropriate
doses." Experiments injecting these protective pharmaceuticals into
monkeys have shown positive results in increasing radiation resistance.
Although the effects of spaceflight on our bodies are an
important issue, the advancement of propulsion technology is just as
important. With our current technology, it would take us about 260 days
to get to Mars. A study backed by NASA proposes an interesting way to tackle this issue through deep sleep, or torpor. With this technique, it would "reduce astronauts' metabolic functions with existing medical procedures."
So far experiments have only resulted in patients being in torpor state
for one week. Advancements to allow for longer states of deep sleep
would lower the cost of the trip to Mars as a result of reduced
astronaut resource consumption.
Theorists such as Andy Clark suggest that interactions between humans and technology result in the creation of a cyborg system. In this model, cyborg
is defined as a part-biological, part-mechanical system that results in
the augmentation of the biological component and the creation of a more
complex whole. Clark argues that this broadened definition is necessary
to an understanding of human cognition. He suggests that any tool which
is used to offload part of a cognitive process may be considered the
mechanical component of a cyborg system. Examples of this human and
technology cyborg system can be very low tech and simplistic, such as
using a calculator to perform basic mathematical operations or pen and
paper to make notes, or as high tech as using a personal computer or
phone. According to Clark, these interactions between a person and a
form of technology integrate that technology into the cognitive process
in a way that is analogous to the way that a technology that would fit
the traditional concept of cyborg augmentation becomes integrated with
its biological host. Because all humans in some way use technology to
augment their cognitive processes, Clark comes to the conclusion that we
are "natural-born cyborgs." Professor Donna Haraway
also theorizes that people, metaphorically or literally, have been
cyborgs since the late twentieth century. If one considers the mind and
body as one, much of humanity is aided with technology in almost every
way, which hybridizes humans with technology.
Future scope and regulation of implantable technologies
Given the technical scope of current and future implantable sensory/telemetric
devices, such devices will be greatly proliferated, and will have
connections to commercial, medical, and governmental networks. For
example, in the medical sector, patients will be able to log in to their
home computer, and thus visit virtual doctor's offices, medical
databases, and receive medical prognoses from the comfort of their own
home from the data collected through their implanted telemetric devices.
However, this online network presents large security concerns because
it has been proven by several U.S. universities that hackers could get
onto these networks and shut down peoples' electronic prosthetics. Cyborg data mining refers to the collection of data produced by implantable devices.
These sorts of technologies are already present in the U.S. workforce as a firm in River Falls, Wisconsin, called Three Square Market partnered with a Swedish firm Biohacks Technology to implant RFID
microchips (which are about the size of a grain of rice) in the hands
of its employees that allow employees to access offices, computers, and
even vending machines. More than 50 of the firm's 85 employees were
chipped. It was confirmed that the American Food and Drug Administration approved of these implantations.
If these devices are to be proliferated within society, then the
question that begs to be answered is what regulatory agency will oversee
the operations, monitoring, and security of these devices? According to
this case study of Three Square Market, it seems that the FDA is
assuming a role in regulating and monitoring these devices. It has been
argued that a new regulatory framework needs to be developed so that the
law keeps up with developments in implantable technologies.
Cyborg Foundation
In 2010, the Cyborg Foundation became the world's first international organization dedicated to help humans become cyborgs. The foundation was created by cyborg Neil Harbisson and Moon Ribas as a response to the growing number of letters and emails received from people around the world interested in becoming cyborgs. The foundation's main aims are to extend human senses and abilities by creating and applying cybernetic extensions to the body, to promote the use of cybernetics in cultural events and to defend cyborg rights. In 2010, the foundation, based in Mataró (Barcelona), was the overall winner of the Cre@tic Awards, organized by Tecnocampus Mataró.
In 2012, Spanish film director Rafel Duran Torrent, created a
short film about the Cyborg Foundation. In 2013, the film won the Grand
Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival's Focus Forward Filmmakers Competition and was awarded US$100,000.
The US-based company Backyard Brains
released what they refer to as the "world's first commercially
available cyborg" called the RoboRoach. The project started as a senior
design project for a University of Michiganbiomedical engineering student in 2010, and was launched as an available beta product on 25 February 2011. The RoboRoach was officially released into production via a TED talk at the TED Global conference; and via the crowdsourcing website Kickstarter in 2013, the kit allows students to use microstimulation to momentarily control the movements of a walking cockroach (left and right) using a Bluetooth-enabled smartphone as the controller.
In the late 2010s, scientists created cyborg jellyfish using a
microelectronic prosthetic that propels the animal to swim almost three
times faster while using just twice the metabolic energy of their unmodified peers. The prosthetics can be removed without harming the jellyfish.
Bacterial cyborg cells
A combination of synthetic biology, nanotechnology and materials science approaches have been used to create a few different iterations of bacterial cyborg cells.
These different types of mechanically enhanced bacteria are created
with so called bionic manufacturing principles that combine natural
cells with abiotic materials. In 2005, researchers from the Department
of Chemical Engineering at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln created a super sensitive humidity sensor by coating the bacteria Bacillus cereus
with gold nanoparticles, being the first to use a microorganism to make
an electronic device and presumably the first cyborg bacteria or
cellborg circuit. Researchers from the Department of Chemistry at the University of California, Berkeley
published a series of articles in 2016 describing the development of
cyborg bacteria capable to harvest sunlight more efficiently than
plants. In the first study, the researchers induced the self-photosensitization of a nonphotosynthetic bacterium, Moorella thermoacetica, with cadmium sulfide nanoparticles, enabling the photosynthesis of acetic acid from carbon dioxide.
A follow-up article described the elucidation of the mechanism of
semiconductor-to-bacterium electron transfer that allows the
transformation of carbon dioxide and sunlight into acetic acid. Scientists of the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the University of California, Davis and Academia Sinica in Taiwan, developed a different approach to create cyborg cells by assembling a synthetic hydrogel inside the bacterial cytoplasm of Escherichia. coli cells rendering them incapable of dividing and making them resistant to environmental factors, antibiotics and high oxidative stress. The intracellular infusion of synthetic hydrogel provides these cyborg cells with an artificial cytoskeleton and their acquired tolerance makes them well placed to become a new class of drug-delivery systems positioned between classical synthetic materials and cell-based systems.
