Hot Air » Blog Archive » Video: The bionic man

Video: The bionic man

posted at 2:31 pm on July 27, 2007 by Allahpundit
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One of the great unanswerable questions of the war: what would the casualties look like if we were stuck with Vietnam-era medical practices and technology? One possible answer: Who cares? Just be thankful we’re not. Click the image to watch.

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do the fingers move independently? we never get to see that. its very cool how he can (seemingly) do stuff with it. wonder how it works for other things – using a hammer, washing the car and stuff.

lorien1973 on July 27, 2007 at 2:39 PM

This technology is so new just imagine what it will be like in 5, 10 or 20 years…

doriangrey on July 27, 2007 at 2:45 PM

His emotions toward the end got to me.

Right on!

TheSitRep on July 27, 2007 at 2:45 PM

I’m thinking ace had a piece on this bit ago, if this is the same thing, you really have good control, you can do finesse stuff like pick up a coin or hold a paper cup without crushing it.

Bad Candy on July 27, 2007 at 2:47 PM

More importantly, can he flip off St. Cindy?

Leonidas Hoplite on July 27, 2007 at 2:51 PM

With all due respect, AP, this is way cooler than an iphone.

KelliD on July 27, 2007 at 2:54 PM

MIT had been workig on a prosthetic hand for years. As I recall, the base model of it was used in the terminator movie. I am glad to see this technology finaly maturing. Their are a lot of people that will benafit from it. That is untill the Hippies start going on about “Mannnn dude, thats like, not natural maaaan. thats like, could be dangerouse, the Man is trying to mind control us with bionics, I don’t want to be steve austined maaaaannnn”

Wyrd on July 27, 2007 at 2:54 PM

This technology is so new just imagine what it will be like in 5, 10 or 20 years…

doriangrey on July 27, 2007 at 2:45 PM

Bionic arms that fire pulsed energy. Just like Mega Man.

PRCalDude on July 27, 2007 at 3:08 PM

Hmm, I was thinking more along the full independent digit articulation with tactile feedback and real time servo response.

doriangrey on July 27, 2007 at 3:23 PM

doriangrey on July 27, 2007 at 3:23 PM

But that’s pretty much the same thing, right?

KelliD on July 27, 2007 at 3:28 PM

Can it crush the bones of my enemies into pulp? Does it have a high speed universal data port in the pinkie finger? How long are the nuclear batteries good for in between charges?

I gotta know this stuff before I sign up for the upgrade.

James on July 27, 2007 at 3:30 PM

I wonder what it uses for a power supply, and how long a charge lasts? At any rate, I’m glad to see the guy has the opportunity to use it.

If there’s an upside to be found in IED casualties, I suppose it’s that increased demand will drive prosthetic developments like these–small consolation to those affected, of course, but at least it’s something. And as many of these young veteran amputees age, enter the workforce, and become progressively more wealthy, the demand for increasingly more effective products can only grow. So it will indeed be interesting to see what’s available in coming decades (assuming, of course, that the Calliphate and/or Hillarycare doesn’t mandate a return to hooks and wooden pegs).

Blacklake on July 27, 2007 at 3:32 PM

All kidding aside, you hit the nail on the head Blakelake.

KelliD on July 27, 2007 at 3:34 PM

The heck with that! Ask the important question every guy wants to know:

Can it crush a beer can?

CrazyFool on July 27, 2007 at 3:36 PM

Integrate this with a Cyberkinetics sensor array and who knows what will be possible in a couple of years.

Franklin Hill on July 27, 2007 at 3:51 PM

Bionic arms that fire pulsed energy. Just like Mega Man.

PRCalDude on July 27, 2007 at 3:08 PM

And as many of these young veteran amputees age, enter the workforce, and become progressively more wealthy, the demand for increasingly more effective products can only grow.

Blacklake on July 27, 2007 at 3:32 PM

Drill attachments or things like this. Tried to find one of him cooking, but if you’ve seen the movie you’ll remember.

- The Cat

P.S. When do we can helicopter attachments for the top of the head?

MirCat on July 27, 2007 at 3:58 PM

I think it’s awesome. I hope all our guys who sacrificed limbs can get them replaced like this.

Esthier on July 27, 2007 at 4:06 PM

The ramifications for direct neural interface (DNI) are absolutely astounding. There have been myoelectrically-driven prosthetics since the early 1970’s, but just trust me — this is different.

Myoelectricity, the electricity that iThe s generated from somatic muscle nerves, is already used to to turn motors either forward or backward. In other words, it’s a digital ones-and-zeroes technology.

That, as opposed to DNI, which would feel almost like never having lost a limb. It would certainly take some getting used to for a newly-implanted prosthesis, but to be able to actually decode what nerve signals mean would be the largest leap forward in biology since the Human Genome Project concluded.

The future is now.

gryphon202 on July 27, 2007 at 4:11 PM

KelliD on July 27, 2007 at 3:28 PM

No not even close. He has none of the things I mentioned. Currently he has independent control of his thumb and forefinger, which is to say that he can articulate at will his thumb and forefinger to some degree however his other three fingers are on a programmed pattern, he has no tactile feedback and the servos do not respond in real time.

The developments I mention are the difference between having a prosthesis that functions just like a human hand and having a sophisticated claw. Right now he has the very substantial benefit of having a prosthesis that looks remarkably like a human hand while performing a limited functionality of a hand.

I have no doubt that the functionality I describe is being worked on and probably isn’t very far off, but its not there yet.

Franklin Hill on July 27, 2007 at 3:51 PM

Thanks, this is exactly what I was think about. The combination of these technologies will undoubtedly result in a prosthesis capable of the full range of articulation and sensory feed back of a human limb. Not as good as having an actual human limb, but the next best thing.

doriangrey on July 27, 2007 at 4:14 PM

Doriangrey, I was joking. ;)

This is amazing stuff.

KelliD on July 27, 2007 at 4:20 PM

Opp’s…my bad…sorry…

doriangrey on July 27, 2007 at 4:22 PM

Is it just me, or did it look just like the robot’s hands in “I, Robot”?

Frozen Tex on July 27, 2007 at 4:32 PM

From the video it appears that a company by the name of Hanger is making this thing. Looked up the ticker symbol. It trades on the NY stock exchange under the symbol HGR for $10.87. At first blush it looks like the company is making money. Good. Now think about all the demand for this and for other devices and it would appear that this stock may be a way to make some money and help our troops at the same time. I would suggest to give some of your capital to this company and let the free market work its magic.

unseen on July 27, 2007 at 4:47 PM

That’s some impressive stuff. Looks like living without a limb got a little easier.

congsan on July 27, 2007 at 4:51 PM

unseen on July 27, 2007 at 4:47 PM

correction the maker is a Scottish firm Touch Bionics.

unseen on July 27, 2007 at 4:53 PM

I can tell you what our casualties would look like if we had fought the war morally: zip, unless you count carpal tunnel syndrome from all the button pushing. Which brings us to their casualties…

Lazarus on July 27, 2007 at 5:25 PM

What the f$%k are you talking about?

doriangrey on July 27, 2007 at 6:38 PM