Bionic

Originally coined in 1958 by Major Jack Steele of the US Air force Aerospace Medical Research lab, bionics has naturally had military implications right from the start.

It refers to supplementing or duplicating parts of the body with electronic devices and mechanical parts. Unlike prosthetics, bionics makes no allusions to replicating the previous structures with the new ones, nor does it contain itself to replicating existing strength levels.

A bionic limb could in theory be much stronger than the original, and could as an example, have a form and function utterly alien to the limb it replaced.

See Also: Prosthetic, Biomimetic, Embodiment

Below, we offer a selection of links from our resource databases which may match this term.

Biocybernetics Bioism Biomaterial Biomaterial Evolution

Biomimetics Bionic Bionic Limb Cybernics

Cyberphile Neurocybernetics Robotic Limb Visual Prosthesis

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You Tube of Claudia Mitchell and the first haptic, bionic arm
Ex-Marine Claudia Mitchell became the first woman to receive a bionic arm. This video shows the truly revolutionary range of motion and freedom, that allows.

First woman fitted with bionic arm

Ex-Marine Claudia Mitchell lost her arm in a motorcycle accident two years ago. Since then, she struggled with life with one arm. Standard prosthetic limbs gave a cosmetic limb, but added nothing to her quality of life. Now, she is the first human trial of a bionic arm, developed at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago.

VR Interfaces: Neuro-Controlled Bionic Arm

A product of neuroprosthetic work, the Neuro-Controlled Bionic Arm, product of the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, is the first artificial limb to tap directly into the nervous system, allowing it to be moved by unconscious thought, exactly the same as the natural, original arm.

Woman with bionic arm regains sense of touch
The art of prosthetics has moved forwards once more, and Claudia Mitchell, who lost her arm in a motorcycle accident and became the first woman to be fitted with a bionic arm has now become the first woman to be fitted with an artificial arm ? same arm ? that returns a sense of touch to her nervous system.

Do we have the technology to build a bionic human?
This July 2008 NewScientist article takes a look at the state of the art in prosthetics, and asks which of our body parts can be engineered today, and which will we have to make do with?

No bionic people yet, but war fuelling new advancements in prosthetics
A pair of interviews with Adele Fifield, head of the National Amputee Centre for The War Amps in Ottawa, and Kevin Englehart at the University of New Brunswick in Fredericton, home to one of North America's most advanced prosthetic research facilities.

Digital People: From Bionic Humans to Androids

Tales concerning artificial beings have sparked passions and fear for millenia. Everything from zobbgies to golems have pervaded mythology. Now, we are on the brink of creating artificial beings digitally, for real.

You Tube of the first haptic, bionic arm versus a non-haptic
A comparison. Two women, both with prosthetic limbs. On the left, a standard prosthetic. On the right, a haptic prosthetic giving touch feedback. Who can complete the task faster, and is there much difference?

My Bionic Quest for Bol?ro

In October 2005, Wired magazine featured the four-page story of Michael Chorost, a man who fought to revolutionise artificial hearing, and who has relied upon a computer surgically installed inside his skull. Called a cochlear implant, this routine replacement has 16 electrodes that snake inside the inner ear, and plenty of room for improvement.

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