Hello and welcome back to Most Amazing Top 10.
I am Rebecca Felgate and today we are getting technological as we talk about the Top 10
Human machine Hybrids.
Many leading scientists think that humans must merge with machines if we want to survive,
and indeed, many Hollywood movies have depicted as much.
But….could it really happen?
Stay tuned as we have a look at 10 cyborgs making it happen.
10 - Project Cyborg Founder – Kevin Warwick.
Kevin Warwick was professor of Cybernetics at Reading University and now works as Deputy
Vice Chancellor of Coventry University.
Warwick has an implanted microchip in his nervous system.
He first had a chip inserted to his arm in 1998, a simple RFID transmitter that he used
to control lights, doors and other computer controlled devices….turning things in and
off with his arm.
Later, in 2002, he had the chip connected to his nervous system.
He also game the same inplant to his wife, which meant that when someone grasps her hand,
he can feel the same sensation.
9 - Stelarc I studied this guy as part of my drama degree
and from both a performance and science perspective, he is so interesting.
Stelarc is an artist who’s focus is the enhancement robotics can have on the human
body.
Stelarc isn’t a full time cyborg, but in one performance, called third hand, he used
a robotic third arm which picked up muscle signals and responded with movements accordingly.
In a recent performance, he attached his body to an industrial robotic arm, which choreographed
his body movements for a period of time.
The fact that he has a third ear on his arm is kind of irrelevant to this list… but
I thought I would quickly mention it.
8 - Hugh Herr In the 1980s, Hugh lost his legs in a climbing
accident, however he did not let that stop him.
Since then, he has been relying on prosthetics to climb again.
Herr has since gone on to be a leading man in the field of biomechanics and believes
he will be able to cure paralysis using high tech prosthetics one day.
He created a computerized artificial knee…and on top of that, he and his team were able
to get a paralyzed rat walking again by implanting a dissolvable scaffold seeded with neutral
stem cells.
Herr has never believed he is handicapped, just that technology is, and has worked on
several devices, including bionics that allow amputees to walk with the ease they used to.
At the end of his TED talk, he invited out a dancer, Adrianna Haset Davis who lost her
leg in the Boston Bomingsshe dances on one of his BIOM legs, and watching her move was
incredible!
7 - Nigel Ackland, the man with a Robot Arm.
British man, Nigel Ackland lost his arm in a work accident in the mid 2000s and was since
given a Bebionic arm, a high-tech bionic forearm and hand that can type and move like a real
hand.
The arm was hailed as the most advanced prosthetic hand in the world in 2012.
The arm is controlled by two muscles and allows him use of his hand again….
The sound of it when it moves, though!!!!!
It looks pretty awesome!
Oh my goodness…
this looks insane… meet the guy with a hard drive for a finger, Jerry Jalava at number
6 Imagine carrying all your documents with you
without evening needing to use a bag….
This is Jerry Jalava’s life!
So, Finland national, Jalava lost his finger in a motorbike accident in 2009 when he was
in his early 20s.
As a computer programmer, he had the hair-brained idea to turn what was left of his finger into
a USB stick.
At the time, he had a laughable 2 gigs fitted into his USB finger, but these days, his hard
drive capabilities are more supreme.
Founder of the Cyborg Foundation - Neil Harbisson at number 5
Neil Haribisson is a cyborg artist who, with the help of machines, has learned to listen
in colour.
Harbisson is the worlds first legally recognized cyborg who has an inbuilt antenna in his skull.
He did a talk with TED which has had around half a million view on Youtube.
In it he explains how he was completely colourblind, with the ability to only see in greyscale.
Age 21, he had a device, he calls an electronic eye, installed that turns colour into audible
frequencies, allowing him to hear the colour of the world.
He said “when I started to dream in color, I felt the software and my brain had united.”
He says his electronic eye is part of him and it even features in his passport photo.
The Cyborg Foundation’s co-founder is up next at number 4 we have Moon Ribas
Ribas had a sensor permanently fitted into her elbow in 2013 as part of a project called
Seismic Sense.
This sensor allows her to feel any earthquake on the planet with varying intensity.
In 2008, she wore a speedometer glove that allowed her to determine the exact speed of
movement around her.
Rob Spence – the man with a bionic eye at number 3
Possibly the world’s first eyeborg, Spence makes documentaries with his robot eye which
is fitted with a camera.
The Canadian filmmaker shot himself in the eye as a child and he was left blinded.
Eventually he decided that rather than having a regular prosthetic eye, he wanted one which
could function to his advantage.
Eventually he had a small camera eye fitted in 2008 from which he can record around 30
minutes of footage.
While the camera isn’t connected to his brain so he can’t actually see what he is
recording, research is taking place to see whether this would be a possibility in the
future, which would be a huge step for human machine hybrids.
Spence has worked with other Cyborg’s too, making a documentary about them
Jens Naumann at number 2 Naumann lost his sight in two tragic turn
of events, and was unable to see for over 20 years.
However he was offered a chance at sight again in 2002 as part of the Dobelle Institute’s
Artificial Vision Project.
Naumann received artificial vision with an electronic eye connected to his visual cortex
with implants in his brain.
The process worked by using a video camera in glasses attached to a computer, attached
to his brain.
His Neural implants came at a cost, and he had violent seizures following the surgery.
Now his is able to see outlines and shapes… which of course isn’t perfect, but has opened
up a small fraction of a world he could previously not see.
As research develops, he may one day be able to see more.
Finally, at number one….
While this human machine hybrid may not yet be alive, we have half human, half electronic
cell tissue….
In 2012, Scientists at Harvard University unveiled cyborg tissue.
The synthetic skin is part living, part electronics….The scientists involved said they wanted to merge
natural and electronic in such a way that becomes difficult to determine where the tissue
ends and the electronics begin.
So…perhaos we are one step closer to truly conceiving a true cyborg.
Wow…so that was the top 10 human machine hybrids.
What a time to be alive!
Would you want to be part machine?
If so, what machine part would you go for?
OUT etc…
Thanks for watching to the end.
Why not check out our Top 10 Jobs that Robots Will Take Over…or our Top 10 future cities
being built right now.