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Man in a black truck spotted dropping off Bionic face shields that were quickly taken by protesters.. “It just feels like something is about to happen.” “It looks like a bionic shield is what that's called. That's not the kind of thing that buy in bulk if you don't plan on doing something with it.” “The fact that that's being handed out kind of like candy to everybody gives you an indication that these folks probably plan to be here for a while.”

A bionic eye firm that went out of business following the onset of COVID-19 has left people using their retinal technology blind if the implants malfunction The firm, LA-based Second Sight, discontinued its implant hardware in 2019, and reportedly let go of it's staff in the early months of the pandemic in 2020 It's 350-plus worldwide patients were then left with obsolete and unsupported retinal implants The hardware cost about $500,000 per patient in total, with 80 percent covered by insurance Barbara Campbell's Argus II retinal implant system stopped working as she made her way to transfer trains during rush...

SAN FRANCISCO -- A new device developed by a Berkeley company was unveiled Thursday that will soon give people paralyzed by debilitating injuries a second chance at walking. Eighteen years ago, Amanda Boxtel was paralyzed in a skiing accident; today, a futuristic invention is helping her walk upright again. Boxtel strode onto a stage in San Francisco Thursday morning without the use of her wheelchair, draped in a 45-pound bionic exoskeleton that guided her leg movements using computer sensors. The invention, called eLEGS, or Exoskeleton Lower Extremity Gait System, was unveiled by Berkeley Bionics, an East Bay company founded in...

LONDON (AFP) – A cat which lost both back paws after a traumatic accident involving a combine harvester has regained a spring in its step after being fitted with prosthetic limbs. In a groundbreaking surgery carried out by Noel Fitzpatrick, a Surrey-based veterinary surgeon, the custom-made implants "peg" the ankle to Oscar's foot and mimic the way in which deer antler bone grows through skin.

A man who lost his sight 30 years ago says he can now see flashes of light after being fitted with a bionic eye. Ron, 73, had the experimental surgery seven months ago at London's Moorfield's eye hospital. He says he can now follow white lines on the road, and even sort socks, using the bionic eye, known as Argus II. It uses a camera and video processor mounted on sunglasses to send captured images wirelessly to a tiny receiver on the outside of the eye. In turn, the receiver passes on the data via a tiny cable to an...

t really makes you feel that we're living in the fabled "future" predicted by science fiction writers when watching the i-LIMB bionic hand in action. This highly functional robotic prosthetic hand features precise movements, an organic look and a high level of control that makes it possible for users to execute everyday tasks like holding small objects and writing. Check out this amazing innovation in the video below. Touch Bionics, the developers of the i-LIMB explain the device: The Touch Bionics i-LIMB Hand was developed using leading-edge mechanical engineering techniques and is manufactured using high-strength plastics. The result is a...

Santa Monica, CA (PRWEB) December 21, 2008 -- Revolutionary new prosthetic technology has made life easier and more fulfilling for a California woman who is an upper extremity amputee. Telisa Boston was recently fit with the most advanced non-surgical upper extremity prosthetic solution commercially available - Touch Bionics' i-LIMB™ Hand, the world's first fully-articulating and commercially-available bionic hand, coupled with the innovative selective compression-stabilization interface system created by Randall Alley, CEO and chief prosthetist of biodesigns. i-LIMB Hand holding coin i-LIMB Hand holding coin Biodesigns, inc., a high-performance Southern California prosthetic facility specializing in technologically-advanced upper and lower extremity care,...

A revolutionary invention that has its origins in research carried out by NHS Lothian over 20 years ago, has been named as one of TIME Magazine's best inventions of 2008. The world's first commercially available bionic hand, the i-LIMB Hand, invented by David Gow, NHS Lothian, and developed by Livingston-based Touch Bionics, is rated 14 overall in TIME's best inventions of 2008. The world's first bionic hand took many years to develop, beginning with a programme of research work at NHS Lothian's bio engineering centre in Edinburgh. The key innovation is that it is multi-articulating, meaning each finger has its...

Bionics – a word formed from biology and electronics – has become a quickly expanding research field, exploring ways and materials to bridge the interface between electronics and biology Basically, there are three levels of biocommunications where electronics and biology could interface: molecular, cellular and skeletal. For any implanted bionic material it is the initial interactions at the biomolecular level that will determine longer term performance. While bionics is often associated with skeletal level enhancements, electronic communication with living cells is of interest with a view to improving the results of tissue engineering or the performance of implants such as...

January 22, 2008 It’s not often in this era of rampant technological innovation that a fundamentally new concept surfaces – with almost no limitations to what can be achieved with the myriad new technologies coming to market over the last few years, fundamentally new ideas of this magnitude are becoming increasingly rare, much less technologies with groundbreaking societal implications. Such a technology emerged this week when it was announced that engineers at the University of Washington have used microscopic scale manufacturing techniques to combine a flexible contact lens with an imprinted electronic circuit and lights. Though in its infancy, the...

If you've ever wanted to be the Bionic Woman or a Terminator, new research may at least let you see with their eyes. Scientists have taken the first step toward creating digital contact lenses that can zoom in on distant objects and display useful facts. For the first time, engineers have installed an electronic circuit and lights on a regular contact lens. The prototype they created does not actually light up or display information. But it proves that it is possible to build an electronic lens that is safe to wear and doesn't obstruct vision. "Looking through a completed lens,...

Baby's x-ray showing the inserted metal implants (photo: Bill Osment) A cat who was fitted with metal plates in all four legs after surviving two 21ft falls has been dubbed "bionic".Six-year-old Baby fractured her back legs after falling from a window in her south London home in September. The domestic short-haired cat had a metal plate and screws inserted at the Blue Cross animal hospital in Victoria. To the surprise of vets, an X-ray showed she had two implants in her front legs, inserted after a similar plunge when she was a kitten. Extremely lucky Vets said Baby was...

For patients who have lost a limb, prosthetic devices frequently come as mixed blessing. Aesthetically, they may provide a valuable boost to self-esteem and confidence. But heavy, uncomfortable and difficult to use, most will seldom provide a level of sensitivity sufficient to render them anything other than an additional encumbrance. For a group of researchers at Hebrew University [of Israel], though, one novel approach to the measurement of brain activity has suggested how one day a metal-and-plastic limb might operate just as effectively as its flesh-and-blood prototype - and, in the process, teach us more about how the brain interacts...

Gays and the Bionic Woman? Love her! Gays and Isaiah Washington? Not so much. What's a thoroughly postmodern gay to do when one of the iconic heroines of '70s television is relaunched on a network that eagerly embraces an actor who gets dumped from his hit show on another network after proving himself all too comfortable with a certain homophobic slur? Okay, fine, maybe you don't get the Bionic Woman idolization. Maybe you've never been on the receiving end of the "f" slur. (What are you, one of those nine out of 10 people who "scientific research" suggests isn't gay?)...

WASHINGTON, July 18, 2007 – A new prosthesis under development will give servicemember amputees more flexibility and help them better perform their military jobs if they choose to stay on active duty. Army Spc. Charles Parker looks on as Sven Zarling, from Otto Bock International, demonstrates the capabilities of a prototype of a prosthesis designed to give above-the-knee amputee servicemembers mobility they need to remain on active duty if they choose. The prosthesis uses a microprocessor to control the knee’s hydraulic functions and can anticipate the wearer’s actions and make changes in real time. Photo by Fred W. Baker...

A bionic eye implant that could help restore the sight of millions of blind people could be available to patients within two years. US researchers have been given the go-ahead to implant the prototype device in 50 to 75 patients. The Argus II system uses a spectacle-mounted camera to feed visual information to electrodes in the eye. Patients who tested less-advanced versions of the retinal implant were able to see light, shapes and movement. "What we are trying to do is take real-time images from a camera and convert them into tiny electrical pulses that would jump-start the otherwise blind...

A bionic eye implant that could help restore the sight of millions of blind people could be available to patients within two years. US researchers have been given the go-ahead to implant the prototype device in 50 to 75 patients. The Argus II system uses a spectacle-mounted camera to feed visual information to electrodes in the eye. Patients who tested less-advanced versions of the retinal implant were able to see light, shapes and movement. "What we are trying to do is take real-time images from a camera and convert them into tiny electrical pulses that would jump-start the otherwise...

A silicon chip that faithfully mimics the neural circuitry of a real retina could lead to better bionic eyes for those with vision loss, researchers claim. About 700,000 people in the developed world are diagnosed with age-related macular degeneration each year, and 1.5 million people worldwide suffer from a disease called retinitis pigmentosa. In both of these diseases, retinal cells, which convert light into nerve impulses at the back of the eye, gradually die. Most artificial retinas connect an external camera to an implant behind the eye via a computer (see 'Bionic' eye may help reverse blindness). The new silicon...

She's being called the world's first "bionic woman." Claudia Mitchell, who lost her left arm in a motorcycle accident, can move her replacement robotic arm just by thinking. "I can flex my elbow and open and close my hand with the mere thought of doing it," she said. ...

WASHINGTON - In the 1970s TV show "The Six Million Dollar Man," the strapping young astronaut got a bionic eye. A U.S. company had hoped that next year that might be your grandmother. Not so fast, a federal advisory panel said Friday. ADVERTISEMENT A tiny telescope designed to be implanted in the eyes of some elderly patients should not receive Food and Drug Administration approval, the panel recommended on a 10-3 vote. The FDA's ophthalmic devices panel recommended against the pea-sized bionic device for safety reasons, spokeswoman Heidi Valetkevitch said. The first-of-its-kind device is called the Implantable Miniature Telescope. The...