Germina Leonce
Instructor: Dr. Diana Mincyte
SOC 2401
5/10/2016
We can live through them
Over the years robotic limbs have evolved, robotic limbs are not only being
used for arms or legs anymore. They are now also being used to save the lives of us, humans.
The Ear of artificial limbs has evolved from, Artificial hands or arms, Robotic legs, Artificial eyes,
Artificial skin, Artificial lungs and one that stood out to me the most was the Artificial heart.
Over the years, robotic limbs have been saving and helping us live our lives. If you lose a body
part or you have an unhealthy organ, because of robotic innovation you don’t have to suffer or
Die. We have found a way to live through technology.
When I found out there was Artificial Skin I had to learn more. The skin has the job of
covering and protecting your whole body, that makes is the easiest organ to get damaged.
Because its job is on the outside of the body. If you get burned or had an accident the first thing
doctors would tell you, is you can take skin from somewhere else on your body to help fix
whatever problem you might have. Now thanks to the scientists at Stanford University they have
created a Synthetic skin replace, called Super Sensitive electronic skin. Zhenan Bao has
developed a super- flexible , super-durable and super-sensitive material that can be used for
synthetic skin (L.A cicero). There are many people out there that have tried to develop synthetic
skin but no one has come close to what Baohas have had. This product has sensitivity to touch
then anything that has ever been had (Zhenan Baohas). This product contains organic
transistors and layers of elastic so it can stretch without being damaged. The coolest part about
this prototype is that it’s totally self-powered. This skin has a series of elastic solar cells that 4
powers it.
I believe that synthetic skin is great for the future our and society because burn
victims won’t have to go through the pain of taking skin from another part of their body they can
use this product. Not only that people with skin cancer can also find a way out. I don’t see any
the negative aspect of this product, it’s a prototype that can help us for years to come. I now feel
the need to buy some just in case something happens to my beautiful skin. Synthetic skin is not
the only product that has evolved over the years prosthetic legs have come a long way.
Even though prosthetic legs have been out for a while, people still have a love and hate
relationship with them. Yes you now have something there to replace you lost leg but you have
no control over it. It just something that’s there to either make you feel better about losing your
legs or something that helps you move around, but still limits the control. They lack the actual
nerve connections to the body. This lead the way for Zac Vawter from Seattle to making the
world’s first thought-controlled leg. A bionic limb that takes signals from your mind and sends it
to the foot. This technology was previously made for arms but he thought it would be more
useful to the legs. This sounds like a great idea but the downsides to this product are if it signals
get intercepted it might send you in front of a moving car or making you jump off a bridge.
That’s why even though it’s the same prototype that was made for arms, this product needed to
be thought out right and be programmed correctly. They have to also make sure that this product
is built with safety. Our future and our society can benefit from this in many ways if you lost
your leg or legs in the war and you really want to go back this is a way you can get back to what
you loved doing. If you had to cut your leg off now it all wouldn’t be for nothing cause you not
have something that can replace your leg using your own thoughts.
Prosthetic hands, unlike the legs they are more useful, they can grasp thing okay and help
you keep some balance in your life. But the lack one thing, the lack of touch, touch is one of our
important abilities that help us go through life. People that use prosthetics can’t detect an object
without looking at it first. And this is what the researchers at the University of Chicago wanted to
solve. They wanted people who lost their arm or hands to have that sense of touch again. They
developed a prosthetic hand that can send electric signals to the brain. They tested this out on
animals they gave monkeys, after a few studies they found out after giving the monkey this
product they brains were responding to touch from this prosthetic. This can help us now and in
the future because there are a lot of amputees that would do anything so that they can hold wife
and feel that or hand their daughters hand taking her to school.
I couldn’t believe would have had Artificial eyes, over the years we have found a way to
restore hearing to the deaf but when it comes to the blind it gets complicated. When people lose
their ability to see, their retinas are no longer sending signals from the photoreceptors to the
Brain. For an artificial eye to be made scientist have to find out how the retina processes those
signals to the brain. The scientist at Weill Cornell Medical college have started testing out this
prototype on mice and monkeys. After testing this artificial retinas on animals the chips were able
to convert pictures electronic signals, that the tiny projectors in the artificial eye turns electronic
signals into light. This would help everyone now and in the future because now if you go blind
there’s something that can make you see again but if you were born blind there’s also something
that can help you see the light of day. I believe that this is very important and can change the lives
of people everywhere.
The artificial limbs that stood out to me the most was the artificial heart. The abiocor was
designed to do the same job as a regular heart. This product is made to withstand the body’s
circulatory system to extend the lives of patients that would die of heart failure. This can change
the lives of so many people suffering from heart problems. In conclusion we can use technology
to help us live our lives. In today’s life we can’t live without technology but sooner or later in the
future we are going to live through technology. They will be apart of us and a part of our daily
lives.
Annotated Bibliography List
Artificial eyes
I wanted to learn more about artificial eyes because i thought it would very beneficial to us now and in the future. This product is great for everyone. Over the years there have been people that were born blind and some that became blind not by choose.
2.Artificial hands
Artificial hand that can give a person the sense of touch once again is amazing. There are many artificial hand out on the market but none that can give you back the sense of touch. Someone that was born without an arm or has some kind of deformity could now have a chance to live a normal life.
3. Robotic leg
Over the years there’s been many different proteic legs , but never any that get their information from the brain. After doing more research i found out that there are robotic legs that speed information from the brain to the leg.
4. Artificial heart
The artificial heart was the most impressive product that was ever invented. This can not only benefit our lives now but it could help us live for many years from now. This product can save the lives of many people that might be dying from heart disease.
5. Artificial Skin
There are many people that suffer from bad skin burns and would have to take skin from somewhere else on the body. This product would be great because it takes off the pain of having to go through surgery. This would be great for us now and in the future.
6.
After doing my research, i came to notice that sooner or later we are going to be living through technology. And need it more than we do now.
6.http://www.texasheart.org/Research/Devices/abiocor.cfm
7.http://www.medicaldaily.com/woman-receives-first-successful-heart-transplant-using-experimental-artificial-heart-341182
8.http://motherboard.vice.com/read/era-artificial-heart-permanent-transplants
9.http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/crux/2015/06/02/artificial-heart/#.VzU2n9UrLnA
10.http://europepmc.org/abstract/med/7654742
11.https://www.google.com/patents/US6821297
12.http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1046/j.1525-1594.2002.07130.x/abstract;jsessionid=06BB5180AC1D0FAB1B63E265B8BB29F5.f04t02?systemMessage=Wiley+Online+Library+will+be+unavailable+on+Saturday+14th+May+11%3A00-14%3A00+BST+%2F+06%3A00-09%3A00+EDT+%2F+18%3A00-21%3A00+SGT+for+essential+maintenance.Apologies+for+the+inconvenience.&userIsAuthenticated=false&deniedAccessCustomisedMessage=
13.http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=370569
14.https://www.google.com/patents/US7147663
15.http://journals.lww.com/asaiojournal/Citation/1959/04000/ARTIFICIAL_HEART_IN_THE_CHEST_AND_USE_OF.40.aspx
16.http://www.techinsider.io/mechanical-hearts-could-replace-human-ones-2015-11
