Bionics

A seminar by….
Introduction :
~ Bionics the stuff of science fiction. 
~ “We have the technology” was the theme of a
popular TV series, creative writers produced
fantastic stories of mechanized men
~ People imagined replacing body parts, improving
the quality of life, revolutionizing medicine with far
flung ideas like prosthetic arms, legs, mechanical
eyes and ears. 
~ The science fiction is quickly becoming scientific
fact!
What Definition has to say about ?

• Bionics means the replacement or

enhancement of organs or other body
parts by mechanical versions. Bionic
implants differ from mere prostheses by
mimicing the original function very closely,
or even surpassing it.
What is Prosthesis?

• An artificial device used to replace a

missing body part, such as a limb, a tooth,
an eye, or a heart valve.  Some are mere
attachments, while sensory prostheses
respond to the electrical impulses sent to
muscles and allow for limited control of an
artificial device for actions such as raising
and arm and contracting and opening an
artificial hand.
Prosthesis look like…..
In medicine, a prosthesis is an artificial extension that replaces a
missing part of the body
So If All This Is In Place, Why Can’t
We Just Hook It Up To The Brain?
• Although the groundwork has been laid,
and the principles which will be necessary
to fully understand and carry out this final
task have been determined, there are still
a lot of unknowns to be resolved with new
theories and testing. Scientists are still
trying to fully comprehend the processes
of the brain which are a part of every
human task.
So What Has Been Done?
• In the 1970’s a great deal of research was being
done involving connecting sensory prostheses
with the nerve cells of the body.  One problem
at the time was that the only way to pick up a
signal was to impale the nerve tissue, thus
destroying the nerve.  The advent of the silicon
receptor has solved this problem, and machine
to nerve connections are now a possibility,
nevertheless research of the 1970’s has been
crucial to the understanding of the nervous
system and the development of a bionic body.
Applications looks like:
Bionic Eye Giving Sight to the Blind
While bionics has already
opened the door for replacing
lenses and corneas, it still is
focusing on understanding
how to engineer a new eye for
those who have a retinal
disease, which would enable
10 million people to regain a
sense of sight.  The idea for
sending an electrical current
to the nerve ganglia behind
the retina started in 1988
when a blind person
demonstrated that he could
see points of light by the ARCC
(artificial retina component
chip).  
BIONIC HEART:
Mechanical Master Muscle
The newest artificial heart--
the AbioCor--is also the
world's first self-contained
heart. A grapefruit-size
plastic pump replaces two
chambers in the four-
chamber human heart.
Powered by a battery pack
on the patient's belt, it
pumps blood through the
lungs to receive oxygen, then
sends oxygenated blood
through the body. The
AbioCor is a vast
improvement over older fake
hearts, some of which relied
on 159-kg (350-lb) external
power devices.
 BIONIC KIDNEY:

Future Filter This tube isn't just plastic--its lining contains billions of
live cells extracted from pig kidneys. As in a real kidney, the cells help the
fake kidney filter waste products from blood. One catch This bionic device
remains outside the body, with smaller tubes inserted into internal blood
vessels.
Limitations of Prosthetics:
• One major limitation of current prosthetics is that they
rely on mechanical connections, which cannot match the
intuitiveness of the body's own neural wiring.
• Attempts to control prostheses with electrical sensors on
the skin have not had much success, mainly because it
is difficult to distinguish among the many electrical
changes that activate muscles. A number of researchers
are therefore trying to tap straight into the nervous
system, but that work remains at an early stage of
development.
• Another problem is power. An ideal prosthetic should
move on its own, but conventional motors are heavy and
consume too much electricity. It may someday be
possible to replace missing limbs with artificial skeletons
powered by bioengineered muscle and hooked into the
nervous system .
Advantages of Prosthetics:

• Even current technology, has some

advantages over flesh and bone.
Amputees say that their rock-climbing
abilities have actually improved, because
the lightweight prostheses fit into crevices
where a human foot cannot. Still, most
amputees yearn for a prosthesis that is far
more intimate with the body.
 Final words………..
• Ultimate goal is to one day discover that faint
flashing light, that ray of hope, for the disabled
who would be helped by the chance to walk, see,
hear, and function like an able bodied person.
This ultimate goal is to be able to connect any
mechanical body part to the human brain, and
have it function as a normal human organ. The
groundwork is already set for making such a
possibility become a reality. Prosthetics was the
first movement in this direction, allowing the brain
to send signals to an artificial limb.
 The future of Bionics …..
Artificial Bionic Hi-Fi
Bionic Person
Vision Limbs Cochlear Implants

Durfee 2040 2020 2030 unlikely

Humphrey 2020 2005 now 2050

Jenkins unlikely 2016 now unlikely

Loeb 2050 2010 1998 unlikely

Bottom Line 2040 2013 2005 unlikely