BIONICS

 

BIONICS:

                                         

                    Bionics refers to the flow of concepts from biology to engineering and vice versa. Hence, there are two slightly different points of view regarding the meaning of the word. In medicine, bionics means the replacement or enhancement of organs or other body parts by mechanical versions.

                    Bionics refers to the flow of concepts from biology to engineering and vice versa. Hence, there are two slightly different points of view regarding the meaning of the word.

                  In medicine, bionics means the replacement or enhancement of orga  ns or other body parts by mechanical versions. Bionic implants differ from mere prostheses by mimicking the original function very closely, or even surpassing it.

                     The German equivalent of bionics, Bionik, always adheres to the broader meaning, in that it tries to develop engineering solutions from biological models. This approach is motivated by the fact that biological solutions will usually be optimized by evolutionary forces.

                     While the technologies that make bionic implants possible are developing gradually, a few successful bionic devices exist, a well known one being the Australian-invented multi-channel cochlear implant (bionic ear), a device for deaf people. Since the bionic ear, many bionic devices have emerged and work is progressing on bionics solutions for other sensory disorders (e.g. vision and balance). Bionic research has recently provided treatments for medical problems such as neurological and psychiatric conditions, for example Parkinson's disease and epilepsy.^[23]

                  In 1997, Colombian researcher Alvaro Rios Poveda developed an upper limb and hand prosthesis with sensory feedback. This technology allows amputee patients to handle prosthetic hand systems in a more natural way.^[24]

By 2004 fully functional artificial hearts were developed. Significant progress is expected with the advent of nanotechnology. A well-known example of a proposed nanodevice is a respirocyte, an artificial red cell designed (though not yet built) by Robert Freitas.

                  During his eight years in the Department of Bioengineering at the University of Pennsylvania, Kwabena Boahen developed a silicon retina that was able to process images in the same manner as a living retina. He confirmed the results by comparing the electrical signals from his silicon retina to the electrical signals produced by a salamander eye while the two retinas were looking at the same image.

                   On July 21, 2015, the BBC's medical correspondent Fergus Walsh reported, "surgeons in Manchester have performed the first bionic eye implant in a patient with the most common cause of sight loss in the developed world. Ray Flynn, 80, has dry age-related macular degeneration which has led to the total loss of his central vision. He is using a retinal implant that converts video images from a miniature video camera worn on his glasses. He can now make out the direction of white lines on a computer screen using the retinal implant." The implant, known as the Argus II and manufactured in the US by the company Second Sight Medical Products, had been used previously in patients who were blind as the result of the rare inherited degenerative eye disease retinitis pigmentosa.^[25]

                In 2016,Tilly Lockey (born October 7th, 2005) was fitted with a pair of bionic "Hero Arms" manufactured by OpenBionics, a UK bionics enterprise. The Hero Arm is a lightweight myoelectric prosthesis for below-elbow amputee adults and children aged eight and above. Tilly Lockey, who at 15 months had both her arms amputated after being diagnosed with meningococcal sepsis strain B, describes the Hero Arms as “really realistic, to the point where it was quite creepy how realistic they were.” ^[26]

                    On February 17, 2020, Darren Fuller, a military veteran, became the first person to receive a bionic arm under a public healthcare system.^[27] Fuller lost the lower section of his right arm while serving term in Afghanistan during an incident that involved mortar ammunition in 2008.

VISION OF BIONICS:

                         The bionic eye—or visual neuro prosthesis, as vision bionics are sometimes called—are bioelectronic implants that restore functional vision to people suffering from partial or total blindness. Researchers and device manufacturers who are designing bionic eyes confront two important challenges: the complexity of mimicking retinal function and the consumer preference (and constraint) for miniature devices that can be implanted into the eye. Despite these challenges, the vision bionics market segment is teeming with device prototypes and some commercialized products as well.

                              One of the most prominent companies in this space is Second Sight Medical Products of Sylmar, Calif. Second Sight’s Argus II prosthesis consists of a microelectronic array that is implanted in the retina, a wearable camera and an image processing unit. The camera, integrated into eyeglasses, captures images and transmits them to the portable processing unit, which wirelessly sends electrical signals to the implanted array. The array, in turn, converts these signals into electrical impulses that stimulate the retinal cells that connect to the optic nerve. Argus II thus acts as the crucial link between the object and the optic nerve, bypassing the damaged photoreceptors (as in the case of retinitis pigmentosa, a degenerative ocular disease). 

                                  A similar process is being leveraged by the Bionic Vision Australia research consortium, France-based Pixium Vision and German company Retinal Implant AG in their bionic eye prototypes. 

Auditory Bionics: 

                               Auditory bionics is more mature as a technology than vision bionics, with a larger innovation ecosystem, more commercial products, and greater adoption globally. The market is dominated by Cochlear Limited (Australia); Advanced Bionics (United States), a division of Sonova; MED-EL (Austria); and a collection of smaller, regional companies. 

Prosthetics and Amputations (sixteenth century) the “prehistory” of bionics dates back to ancient Egypt, where 3,000 years ago the first known prosthesis was used: a wooden toe that was fit to the foot with a piece of leather. Time passed until mechanical limbs began being used that recovered the function of the lost limbs. It was in the sixteenth century when the French barber-surgeon Ambroise Paré invented a prosthetic hand with a mechanism for moving the fingers.

Paré was working in the battlefield and also laid the foundation for surgical amputations, the first essential step in later making implants. Since then, the technology of artificial limbs has been closely linked to battle, with major progress occurring after each of the major wars. Thus, World War II prompted the development of modern prostheses, made ​​of new materials such as plastics and titanium.