Get Ready for the Real Bionic Man
From: ABC News - 04/04/2006
By: EJ Mundell

The latest innovations in the integration of machines with human life were
the subject of a special press conference last week during the annual
Experimental Biology 2006 meeting in San Francisco. Though TV's Col. Steve
Austin remains one of the more common images of a human-machine hybrid for
many Americans, researchers say bionics have been with us for some time,
especially when one considers that many people use eyeglasses to see and a
cell phone for communication. "But now, it's becoming more organic, more
integrated - we already have artificial hips, remember," says Homayoon
Kazerooni, a professor of mechanical engineering and director of the Robotics
and Human Engineering Laboratory at the University of California, Berkeley.
Kazerooni introduced BLEEX, a wearable robotics system with its own set of
legs, in 2004, and says a final version of the exoskeleton, which can help
humans lift heavy loads over long distances, should be available soon.
William Craelius, a Rutgers University researcher who created Dextra, the
first multi-finger artificial hand, also participated on the panel. Dextra
can perform simple movements such as opening doors and turning keys, but the
kind of dexterity associated with the human hand is still a decade away, says
Craelius. The panel also discussed developments involving a bionic eye, an
artificial wrist, and computer simulations of real-life human movement. 

Read the entire story at:
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/Healthology/story?id=1804875&page=1

Links:
UC Berkeley researchers developing robotic exoskeleton that can enhance human strength and endurance
http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2004/03/03_exo.shtml

Berkeley Robotics Laboratory
http://bleex.me.berkeley.edu/

Berkeley Robotics Laboratory - Bleex
http://bleex.me.berkeley.edu/bleex.htm

Inventor of artificial hand sees "bionic" replacement parts becoming more human
http://ur.rutgers.edu/medrel/viewArticle.html?ArticleID=2066

William Craelius
craelius@rci.rutgers.edu

The Body Electric
http://health.discovery.com/convergence/rebuilt/bodyelectric/bodyelectric_06.html

Bionic man becoming a reality
http://www.scienceblog.com/cms/bionic_man_becoming_a_reality_10347.html