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Bionics Help for the Disabled For u & Me tools In the quest for perfection, man is trying his best to develop biological systems with engineering precision, and somewhere in the near future we could have a truly bionic (artificial) man. The good thing is that this could help the disabled and the ailing in a great way. BIONICS HELP FOR THE DISABLED he human body is one of the best creations of nature, the application of methods and systems found in nature to the for it is an amazing combination of muscles, sensory study and design of engineering systems and modern organs, neural networks et al. But, over a period of technology. In simple terms, when we think about bionics, it is time and also due to some unforeseen circumstances, generally about prosthetic arms or leg enhancements that are >>Tsome of these natural combinations cease to work to their worn outside the body and, to some extent, even implanted potential, or get damaged altogether. So, is it possible to get sensor devices inside the body, which are specifically enhanced back the glory bestowed on us by Mother Nature? Is it possible to carry out routine tasks. These are essentially life systems to graft a human organ or restore sensory perceptions to the that are powered by motors/actuators and sensory arrays. human body? One major field working towards this is ‘bionics’, These send neural signals from the affected part of the body to an interdisciplinary approach where different technologies are the brain, by which individuals are able to perform some tasks coming together to make this scenario possible. independently. According to popular definition, bionics or biomimetics is In a typical scenario, what would happen if you lost a 42 FEBRUARY 2006 ‘i.t.’ | www.itmagz.com C M Y K tools For u & Me certain part of your body? Unfortunately, we are not bestowed with such unique Muscle power enabled by MEMS regenerating capabilities that the starfish Polymers are definitely making progress, as can be seen from the pioneering efforts of Carlos or the common lizard possess to grow Montemagno, a micro engineer, and his team at the University of California, Los Angeles. The back our arms and legs, restoring them experiment was to use living muscle cells to power Microelectromechanical Systems (MEMS) to their original state. Stem cell research instead of micro motors, which would act as muscle-based nerve stimulators. Montemagno may be the answer, but no one knows for worked painstakingly for three long years and was finally rewarded. sure and, till then, it’s going to be artificial In their lab, the micro engineers used a device—an arch of silicon fifty micrometers wide implants and this is where bionics comes (half the width of a human hair) on which the team grew a cord of heart muscle fibre into the picture. Let’s take a look at all (experimenting using rat cells)—all powered by a glucose culture medium on a Petri dish. To that could possibly be done to restore or achieve the desired conductivity for the structure to grow and move, the team decided to use reconstruct a damaged human body. a gold film that acted as the adherent. Over a period of three days, the entire silicon arch was covered by muscle fibre. Finally, when the restraining beam, which held the musclebot was Developments removed, it started to crawl at speeds of 40 micrometers per second. According to him, the The history of bionics begins from ancient technique when applied to humans would help people with damaged phrenic nerves to mythological times, where soldiers were breathe easily, and the human muscles would be powered by blood glucose from our own reported to have replaced their mutilated body itself. limbs with artificial ones made of iron ore and gone out to battle. But the present day scenario is influenced by a variety of are increasingly being used by 1999 for an arm wrestling match against disciplines, viz. robotics, bioengineering researchers to assist humans to overcome a robotic arm made out of EAP. The and MEMS, with nanotechnology taking deformities. Yoseph Bar-Cohen of challenge was finally accepted in March centre stage because it applies detailed NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory is the 2005 by a sixteen-year high school precision to engineer body organs and first among equals in the research on student, Panna Felsen, USA, who make them function along with EAP. He has conducted several defeated three robotic arms made out of human tissues. experiments, and has found that these EAP. Through this experiment, Yoseph The last few decades have been polymers respond exactly like our Bar-Cohen was able to prove that with wonderful years for technological normal muscles under the influence of further improvement in technology, EAP advances, both for the medical and the electrical stimulation and therefore are could one day actually emulate biological electronics industry in the form of the most likely candidates for use in the muscles and, quite possibly, the verdict miniaturised electronic components, human body as well as robotic areas of might be different the next time around! sophisticated microchips and advanced work. Encouraged by the R&D work he Now, imagine what a world of difference computer systems—all functionally had carried out, and confident about the it would make to people suffering from embedded in the human body. This unique properties of EAP, he had issued muscular dystrophy. Again, there’s one particular human-to-machine interface, an open challenge to the world way back more interesting capability of EAP—it aptly termed as ‘Cyborg entities’ or in can be coupled with MEMS to produce ‘Bionic bodies’, has helped people with smart actuators. physical disabilities (the differently abled) by providing them with Artificial hearts artificial limbs, cochlear implants, So now that we have the muscular artificial muscles and other organs body, we need some heartbeat. Our to perform tasks, enabling them to heart is like the engine of the body, lead a notably better lifestyle. pumping blood to various organs and keeping us alive and if that Artificial muscles stops…! Artificial development on What would the human body be the heart started around the 1950s without muscles? Just a dangling when pacemakers were introduced (big skeleton! Quite a scary thought! mammoths, plugged onto wall So in the case of units, with which you damaged muscle, is could move only as far there a possibility of as the extension cord generating new muscles permitted) that altogether! Well, yes— allowed people with one such scenario is the heart problems some use of EAP or respite. Current Electroactive Polymers. pacemakers are tiny. In These are often referred the technical sense, a pacemaker is a to as artificial muscles and miniaturised electrical generator that www.itmagz.com | ‘i.t.’ FEBRUARY 2006 43 C M Y K For u & Me tools consists of a battery that can last a number tissues deteriorate, and over a period of of years and a computer circuit neatly time a person can become blind. But as encased in plastic. This generates tiny long as the optic nerve is intact, there is electrical pulses to the heart and regulates still hope. As a result, research doctors at the rhythm (pacing and sensing) of the leading institutes around the world are heartbeat, while a doctor controls the working hard to restore vision to software for the pacemaker. Any people suffering from such eye problems and he gets a signal alerting diseases. Some of the innovative him to rectify it immediately (embedded products developed there are now intelligence). But what about a being surgically implanted for the completely artificial heart? treatment of vision impairment. The Abiocor heart, developed by Working on nanoscale Abiomed (www.abiomed.com), has been dimensions, the artificial silicon successfully implanted in many patients retina (ASR) developed by (though the mortality rate has also been Optobionics (www.optobionics.com) high) and has also helped to prolong life of Naperville, Illinois is a very tiny for almost up to six months. The patients microchip with a diameter of just 2 mm who receive artificial hearts are those and thickness of 25 microns. This fits who are on their deathbeds, with inside the eye and has an amazing 5,000 typically not more than 15-20 days of life microscopic solar cells, called expectancy. One of the most complicated microphotodiodes, each with its own damaged, the sound output from the cases involved Robert Tools, a US-based individual stimulating electrode. These auditory nerves does not reach the brain 58-year old telephone company microphotodiodes act as light sensors and a cochlear implant is the only employee and one-time teacher. He had that help convert the light energy solution for the loss. The implant has a suffered two early heart attacks, entering the eye into electrical impulses sizeable number of electrodes that congestive heart failure and was a that stimulate the remaining functional replicate the function of hair cells, thereby diabetes patient. Operated on July 2, 2001, cells of the retina, enabling the person a enabling the hearing frequency and this to receive the Abiocor heart, he survived certain amount of vision. The ASR sound information is passed on to the for a record 151 days. microchip owes its creation to the Chow brain. An interesting development took brothers—Vincent Chow, an electrical place recently at the Australian Centre Sensory perceptions— engineer, and Alan Chow, a paediatric for Medical Bionics and Hearing Science, bionic eyes and ears ophthalmologist. Using their unique part of Melbourne’s Bionic Ear Institute The human eye is made up of millions of medical and engineering experience, they (www.bionicear.org).
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