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A human being whose whole or some of the body part is made up of electromechanical devices. Artificial replacement for missing part of body such as ear, nose or eye is called prosthesis. It is also used to replace missing bone or muscles under skin. If the problem occurred in skin, then a soft material called silicone is used. Silicone is soft and its colour is similar to surrounding skin. If the problem is affected with the eyes, then eye prosthesis is used made up of acrylic. It is hard and it can be polished to look similar to other eye. If the problem is with bone or muscle, then the implant is made up of silicone (use to replace skin or muscle) or Titanium (use to replace bone).
By the advancements in electronics,hearing or physically impaired people can now hear and move just like other human beings. In recent years, many research is going on to develop bionic human parts. It is mainly due to the thorough understanding of nervous system, miniature of electronic components and the advancements in computer science. The bionic human parts are to help the physically impaired people to regain the normal function of body parts. For example, an eye can be implant to provide vision for the blind people. The human body has a great advantage that it can develop new neuronal path to process the information from implants. To design a bionic equipment, the mechanism which regulate body functions are important. i.e, The understanding of electric pulses of nerve, muscle and neural processes which regulate the thinking of human beings will help to achieve better integration of bionic parts with the human body. It also gives a better idea about how the signals are perceived, processed, interrupted in the human body.
This bionic human research is done for military applications also to make stronger bigger human.
The bionic eye will give sight to the blind people. The bionic eye has to capture the images and transfer this information into the brain like the normal eye. This information is processed for taking decisions. To create the bionic eye, choose the right material which matches to the body.
This can be used for people having retinitis pigmentosa. The FDA approved first bionic eye in the year 2013 is second sight’s Argus II. Argus II consists of about an array of 60 electrodes which is embedded in the eye to mimic the function of original eye. It consists of a camera placed on the glasses. The visual information will be recorded by this camera. The information is then given to video process unit. The video processing unit will process the information. After processing, the information is then sent wirelessly to the array of electrodes. It will activate the neuron in back of eye. Then it sends the message to human brain.
But the major disadvantage is that, resolution will be limited. On the other hand, it gives a gray scale information which helps to get an idea about the obstruction or large objects, or movement of person etc. The person can read large letters also. Research is still going on to develop more efficient bionic eyes. There are so many researchers working on bionic eyes. Second sight is trying to bring this technology closer to people.
It helps the paralyzed peoples to walk using this technology. The exoskeleton (external skeleton) will be aid to those people which are paralyzed or old age people feel trouble to walk. The FDA approved first exoskeleton in the year 2014 is ReWalk. It is the first external skeleton used for medical purpose. It is a system which includes motorized leg braces that can control using a remote control. Using remote control, it can control to stand, sit or even walk. The person must wear computer and backpack housing ReWalk’s power supply. It is specially approved device for lower body paralysis people. There are somany researchers working on exoskeleton such as Ekso Bionics Ekso , Hal etc.The below image shows that a paralyzed women and walks using ReWalk suit. She finish the London marathon in 2012. It is also used in military applications to make the people stronger. Researchers are working on exoskeleton.
It helps the paralyzed person to control the robotic arm using mind. Interaction with the world is possible by using mind as the controller. It consists of about 96 electrodes which helps to read signals from the human brain. The patient is able to operate a television, move computer cursor etc. The patients can give instructions to the robot to do things. The image shows that the paralyzed women instruct the robot arm to give coffee using mind control.
It is a project by BrainGate which uses brain implants in patients suffering from paralysis and allow them to interact with the world.
Research is still going on to develop bionic limbs that can communicate with patients body. The sensors are implanted into the body or placed the sensors on the skin. The prosthetic limbs can able the patient to open and close the fingers, rotate up and down. It will function like original hand. It is also possible to implant the sensors directly to the brain or nerves of patients. Then it is possible to easily interface with the implants. Touch Bionics i-Limb Ultra is an example for prosthetic limbs with motorized joints. It is shaped like human hand and it can hold the objects. It can read the signals from upper arm muscles to take a preprogrammed configuration. They can move by thoughts by sensing electrical impulses from the muscle. The image shows the Touch Bionics’ i-Limb Ultra which is controlled by an iPhone.
Research is going on to develop feedback from limbs to the human. Then only the patient can feel the prosthetic.
The brain sends signals using both electricity and chemicals. To fix the problems in brain, mostly depends on chemical side using drugs. But now implants placed on the brain which stimulate brain cells by giving off electrical current. This technique is named as deep-brain stimulation. This technique is also used for psychiatric illness. In future pacemaker may be developed for brain.
Researchers are trying to develop artificial organs such as kidney, heart, pancreas etc. But it is very difficult. Because the regulation of these organs are multi tiered. i.e, The kidney is regulated by hormones, brain signals, and some physical parameters such as ionic strength of body fluids, etc. All these parameters must satisfy to replace the kidney with bionic kidney of patient suffering from kidney failure. If any alteration occurs in the bionic kidney, it will adversely affect the entire body. So the replacement of kidney with bionic kidney is very critical. This is same in the case of heart, pancreas etc.
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