Archive for the 'Cyborgs' Category

On the bright side, this Robot-rat brain combination can open many door ways to understanding the brain and gaining access to the other 96% of our brain. Some fellow scientists at the University of Reading tell us that the brain of the rat communicates with the robotic parts to tell it what to do, just like a robotic-arm replacement would work, but here’s the creepy part. The rat brain gets the signals back. To simplify it, it works like a normal brain; it learns from it’s lessons. Hell, this rat-brain cyborg could be more advanced in its lifetime than some adults these days.

On the dark-side, there’s the possibility of world destruction. You can read more on that via our older post of this cyborg or you can just use your imagination to think of many demonic ways about ending the world through cyborgs.. I don’t know if it’s just the creepy music in the video, but this reminds me too much of Terminator. After all, everything does start out small… such as this cyborg.

[io9]

Sure, this isn’t a crystal skull, it’s cooler because it’s from a decapitated cyborg. It’s the kind of crap you find when aliens and mad scientists have a yard sale, so you buy it for a few bucks even though you don’t need it. Then you put it on your desk and forget about it, until some John Connor looking douche teleports into your room from the year 2134 demanding his shit back and calling you a skullf**ker.

At least that’s what happened to me. But I fixed their ass good. I sold the thing to Skynet, or cyberdyne, or whatever the hell it’s called.

[Funshop] VIA [Poptherapy]

The DEKA robotic arm is basically “a DARPA funded project intended to restore functionality for individuals with upper extremity amputations.” It’s used via brain control, with only one day of “training” necessary. This is one of the best out there if not the best. The video is amazing.

[Techeblog]

Filmmaker Rob Spence has made some interesting progress on his new “eye-to-eye” documentary. He has an LED attached to his prosthetic eye, making him look very Terminator-like.

It’s the first time his team has managed to fit an electronic device, with a power source into the eye. His right eye was damaged in a childhood accident, so he’s been using a prosthetic for years. His goal is to create a prosthetic eye with a wireless video camera to film his experiences.

[Gizmodo]

To celebrate the upcoming release of Terminator Salvation, an exhibit featuring the cyborgs from the Terminator series is now on display at Miraikan (National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation) in Tokyo.

It’s titled “Terminator Exhibition – Battle or Coexistence? Robots and Our Future,”. The goal is to inspire visitors to think about the relationship between humans and machines. But it’s mostly about eyeing some cool models and costumes used in the films.

[Pink Tentacle]

You and I have been waiting anxiously, shotgun under the pillow, hiding out in junkyards near the metal crusher so we can crush those metal bastards when the time comes. And still we wait. The tension is thick. But while we’re waiting, take a look at what some artist has done with real insects, inspired by the folks at DARPA.

Presumably this person outfitted these bugs with munitions and such not because they are a raving lunatic, but because they are trying to raise awareness about these government projects. If you hit the link, you’ll find such things as: Scorpions on wheels, beetles with jet wings, bats with missiles mounted on their wings. And on and on.

Image copyright to the artist Dean Christ

[Ubyka]

A few years ago, there was a DARPA initiative to create cyborg insects. Now, thanks to some funding from the agency, researchers at the University of California, Berkeley have controlled a rhinoceros beetle with radio signals. They demonstrated it in a flight test shown on video at this week’s IEEE MEMS 2009 conference.

Basically they put a module on the beetle that uses six electrodes affixed to the brain and muscles to hijack it’s free will. Amazingly, the device weighs only 1.3g. (A beetle can handle a 3g payload). So they still have room to attach sensors for surveillance.

One day they would like to use the beetle’s own eyes to capture intel and its own energy to power the apparatus.

[Engadget]

This bot from Anybots is called QA. While it may look like WALL-E’s head if designed by Apple sitting atop Mr. Burns’s armless frame riding a Segway, QA is actually a telepresence bot, and a pretty sick one at that (if you’re into telepresence you’ll appreciate it). Telepresence bots like QA allow a controller to view, navigate, and verbally address a remote location. Imagine conference calling with mobility. And cameras. And since it’s a robot, imminent demise.
The remote user sees what the QA sees through a pair of cameras mounted near the top, and the user can control the robot’s movements from anywhere there’s a ‘puter and internet. It can move at a blazing 6 mph. Anybot’s QA is relatively stylish and also rather robust—if it’s pushed off course or if somebody tries to knock it over it will maintain balance and return to its original orientation. But all this telepresence comes at a price. A price that is $30,000. That’s how much it will be available for to corporations in the near future. Seems a bit steep, especially considering that the QA lacks maneuverable arms, weapons, and integrated teledildonics.

[Anybots] VIA [DVICE]

There’s a bunch of new pics from “The Next Doctor”. You can find a bunch over at io9 and some more here. Looks like an awesome episode. A future Doctor, New cyber-leader, weird cybermen animal things and Christmas. It doesn’t get much better.

Though I would prefer some Cybermen from our own universe. Something that more closely resembles the Cybermen of old, just a tad more. These look like the same type from that alternate dimension that we’ve seen before. What’s with these hairy ones?

[PT]

If you check out 1stavemachine, you can watch Satum (Director’s cut). You’ll see a sexy women turn into the sexy cyborg. It’s all nice and sexual like.

[1stavemachine] VIA [Likecool]