Scientists have developed the world's first robot human made
entirely of prosthetic parts and he can walk, talk and even has a beating heart.
The robot, which cost
almost USD 1 million to build, was assembled from prosthetic body parts and
artificial organs donated by laboratories around the world.
Roboticists Rich Walker and Matthew Godden of Shadow Robot
Co in England put together the bionic man.
The robot was
modelled in some physical aspects after Bertolt Meyer, a social psychologist at
the University of Zurich, in Switzerland, who wears one of the world's most
advanced bionic hands.
The bionic man has
the same prosthetic hand as Meyer - the i-LIMB made by Touch Bionics - with a
wrist that can fully rotate and motors in each finger.
The bionic man's
prosthetic face is an uncanny replica of Meyer's face.
It also has a pair of
robotic ankles and feet from BiOM in Bedford, Massachusetts, designed and worn
by bioengineer Hugh Herr of MIT's Media Lab, who lost his own legs after
getting trapped in a blizzard as a teenager.
To support his
prosthetic legs, the bionic man wears a robotic exoskeleton dubbed
"Rex," made by REX Bionics in New Zealand.
The bionic man also
has a nearly complete set of artificial organs, including an artificial heart,
blood, lungs (and windpipe), pancreas, spleen, kidney and functional
circulatory system.
However, he lacks a
few major organs, including a liver, stomach and intestines, which are too
complex to replicate in a lab.
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