| Cybernetics professor Kevin Warwick professes to | | | | Using a modified robotic arm, Dr. Alon Wolf and Dr. |
| be the "first Cyborg." Project Cyborg began in August | | | | Howie Choset have developed a machine that can |
| of 1998, when Warwick implanted a computer chip into | | | | perform minimally-invasive surgery with great |
| his left arm, which later allowed him to open doors, | | | | accuracy. The invention is called the "CardioARM" and |
| move a robotic hand and operate an electronic | | | | has been designed for abdominal surgery, heart |
| wheelchair. The implant also allowed him to tap into the | | | | bypass surgery and mouth surgery, but can also be |
| Internet at Columbia University in New York and | | | | used to perform a laparoscopy, colonoscopy, and |
| control a robotic arm at the University of Reading in | | | | arthroscopy. |
| the UK. | | | | The CardioARM is operated by a joystick and can |
| Another one of the experiments tested telepathic | | | | navigate through the body to the problem areas. The |
| communication between two individuals by way of | | | | flexible tele-operated probe is programmed to |
| implants. In the 70s, researchers felt that robotic arms | | | | remember pathways and it can take tools into regions |
| would be a vital asset to the workplace. Little did they | | | | that surgeons would otherwise have to slice into. |
| know, humans would consider fusing themselves with | | | | "Tools in operation rooms are not flexible. The |
| this technology to become super-human cyborgs! | | | | CardioARM is flexible enough for remote and hard to |
| Starting in 1975, robotic arms have been used for | | | | reach anatomies," explains Dr. Wolf. "The heart is a |
| industrial purposes. In some cases, they do the work | | | | good example... now we don't have to cut the person |
| more quickly, more accurately and more efficiently | | | | open." |
| than human workers ever could. Yet in other instances, | | | | Robotic arm technology has rapidly improved over the |
| they simply perform work that is too monotonous, | | | | span of just thirty years. But what is the end goal of |
| dangerous or undesirable for men and women. | | | | robotics technology? Is it to build robots that can work |
| In the US auto industry, for example, there is one | | | | as our slaves? Is it to find minimally-invasive, infallible |
| robotic arm for every ten workers. Industrial robots lift | | | | methods of performing surgery? Is it to treat injuries? |
| heavy objects, handle chemicals, and paint and | | | | Is it to teach? Or is it to become super-humans? |
| assemble parts. Rather than replace jobs, the robotic | | | | There are a number of ways to approach this |
| system is intended to free up more creative, fulfilling | | | | science, making it impossible to tell just what the future |
| work for people instead. After all, the Czech word | | | | of robotic development holds. |
| "robota" translates to "drudgery work." | | | | |