Session page (no audio): https://schedule.sxsw.com/2018/events/PP74399
Hugh Herr, Center for extreme bionics/MIT media lab
Aimee Mullins, Amiee Mullins Studio
Hans Gregor Naeder, Ottobock
The artificial limbs should extend our body as naturally as
the smartphone extends our hand. Today’s
work in the field is on controlling living muscle tissue in high fidelity.
Some of the advancements researched today:
- Injecting a virus that is sensitive to light, and use light to control motion
- Special amputations in such a way that natural neural commands have a feedback allowing natural control of artificial limbs. In the past, amputations were not as precise.
In two decades we’ll be able to build artificial limbs that
surpass human ones, and the Paralympics will set better records than Olympics
on comparable events.
Can we link human nervous systems with mechanical
limbs? There are promising advances in
this domain. Prosthetics are in
transition from mere tools to natural extensions of the body. We will not just be replacing limbs, we will
be enhancing them. Our limitations are
only what we can imagine. For example,
when thinking about an exoskeleton for a paraplegic, could we create it with
more than four limbs? Could we create it
with wings? Would our brains adapt?
Q: What about affordability?
Will there be a disparity between what rich people can have vs. what
poor people can?
A: It is similar to all tech. Initially, only the rich will be able to
afford it, but over time it will become available to all.
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