Woman's experimental bionic hand passes major test • Hacker News Board

Re: Woman's experimental bionic hand passes major test

#31

Post by munificent » Thu, Oct 12, 2023, 8:58 PM UTC

failrate wrote: post #20

roarcher wrote: post #12

This is pretty amazing, but I wonder--how does the body adapt to having a piece of hardware that extends through the skin? Does the body not see this as an open wound? It seems like being permanently impaled with a metal pole.

Like an earring? The skin typically forms a fistula-like sheath around the metal.

A fistula from a piercing connects two surface exits to each other, like a wormhole through your body. Once complete, the piercing touches nothing internal to you, just skin.

But in this case, the prosthetic must penetrate through the skin to connect to bone.

Re: Woman's experimental bionic hand passes major test

#32

Post by _ea1k » Thu, Oct 12, 2023, 9:14 PM UTC

Dig1t wrote: post #25

notaustinpowers wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the main concern with Neuralink isn't so much the technology/mission itself, it's Elon. We've seen with his other companies how he runs testing. Blow up rocket after rocket after rocket until it goes right. And even when it does go right, cause catastrophic damage to the launch pad, damage they were warned would happen. With earth Tesla Autopilots it was very finicky and absolutely should have gone through mo…

If you’ve ever built anything you know that the only way anything gets built is with iteration. There are very few examples in history where something new got built and was a perfect finished product v1. The way we build new things is making something, testing it, measuring the outcome and then using the information to build v2. Look at literally every product ever built, that’s how it was made. Rockets especially ne…

Yeah, but it is Musk doing it, so it is different!

It is funny, because so many other programs have had similar failures. How many people have Autopilot like things on their non-Tesla cars that they don't even use because they are uselessly bad? All of these things have been through iterations, including potentially dangerous public iterations.

All the poor naming criticisms of "FSD" and even "FSD Beta" are fair game though.

Re: Woman's experimental bionic hand passes major test

#33

Post by ge96 » Thu, Oct 12, 2023, 9:18 PM UTC

That is metal af drilled into the bone. Edging closer to cyberpunk

This is the kind of stuff I wish I worked on tech wise, I genuinely feel empathy

Re: Woman's experimental bionic hand passes major test

#34

Post by GravityLab » Thu, Oct 12, 2023, 9:22 PM UTC

chrsw wrote: post #30

GravityLab wrote: post #4

This is amazing. Soon we'll be at the bionic arms featured in iRobot.

No, not soon.

Do you think it's possible in 20 years?

Re: Woman's experimental bionic hand passes major test

#35

Post by autoexec » Thu, Oct 12, 2023, 11:42 PM UTC

xenadu02 wrote: post #17

autoexec wrote: post #6

I've seen some amazing prosthetics on the internet, I've been seeing them for decades, but none of them get wide use. They're either all "experimental" or so insanely expensive that nobody can get them. These kinds of articles can make us feel good about science and hopeful about our future, but the reality is that the people who need these things are basically never going to have one or anything close to one.

Very rarely does any technology start off cheap enough to be mass-produced. If you don't build prototypes then expensive bespoke initial models you'll often never get to the "half of all who need it can afford it" let alone "90%+ can afford it". If you don't like that then the government will need to step up with public funds.

I guess you're right, this has to start somewhere and it won't ever happen if the tech isn't being developed. I guess I just wish this were publicized a little more honestly. It's always "life changing tech is here!" or at least "right around the corner!" when the reality is we've got a lottery system where year after year and decade after decade a lucky few get some great cyborg tech in exchange for marketing while most people who need them only have prosthetics with utility limited to being a hook or even just a cosmetic assuming they can afford to get any kind of prosthetic at all. History tell us that things aren't likely to be any different 10 years from now.

Re: Woman's experimental bionic hand passes major test

#36

Post by autoexec » Fri, Oct 13, 2023, 12:56 AM UTC

Dig1t wrote: post #26

mikem170 wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Look how much hatred there is for Neuralink. A company actually trying to productize and bring to market a device that will allow quadriplegic people to move and walk again People are wary of Neuralink because of how big tech manipulates peoples and pollutes society for profit, not because they are opposed to helping quadriplegics.

I agree there are things to be wary of, all new tech is a double edged sword. But the pro’s obviously outweigh the cons in the same way the internet and smart phones have. You’ll find very few people who will say they would prefer to live in a world where all humanity’s collective knowledge is not instantly accessible to everyone. You used to have to drive to the library to look things up! Is that old world better? H…

> But the pro’s obviously outweigh the cons in the same way the internet and smart phones have

I suspect we're just starting to realize the extent of the cons for both of those things. The internet we probably have to accept was worth it, but you can probably already imagine ways that smart phones could be abused today which would be far worse than the convinces they offer. We're just sort of hoping that those types of abuses wont happen or aren't already happening.

The problem we have is that good tech designed to work for us is increasingly being turned against us, and new tech is being explicitly designed from day one to be adversarial. I'm already avoiding a lot of technology and modifying other technology to avoid the harms. No way would I ever risk handing direct access/control of my brain to a third party who wants to exploit me.

Re: Woman's experimental bionic hand passes major test

#37

Post by failrate » Fri, Oct 13, 2023, 1:08 AM UTC

munificent wrote: post #31

failrate wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Like an earring? The skin typically forms a fistula-like sheath around the metal.

A fistula from a piercing connects two surface exits to each other, like a wormhole through your body. Once complete, the piercing touches nothing internal to you, just skin. But in this case, the prosthetic must penetrate through the skin to connect to bone.

Then transdermals as popularized by Steve Haworth. They go through skin and are mounted to flesh and bone.

Re: Woman's experimental bionic hand passes major test

#38

Post by tycho-newman » Fri, Oct 13, 2023, 3:28 AM UTC

elil17 wrote: post #5

tycho-newman wrote: post #2

Does it come with attachments?

Not sure why you're downvoted here - in the video they show at least one non-hand attachment, a computer terminal which lets her control a virtual hand for training purposes. Two wires run from her implants to the terminal.

I will not be strong-armed into silence!

Re: Woman's experimental bionic hand passes major test

#39

Post by roarcher » Fri, Oct 13, 2023, 5:05 AM UTC

failrate wrote: post #37

munificent wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A fistula from a piercing connects two surface exits to each other, like a wormhole through your body. Once complete, the piercing touches nothing internal to you, just skin. But in this case, the prosthetic must penetrate through the skin to connect to bone.

Then transdermals as popularized by Steve Haworth. They go through skin and are mounted to flesh and bone.

I'd have the same question about them. I'm not disputing that it works, I just don't understand how the body isn't constantly fighting it. Or leaking.

Re: Woman's experimental bionic hand passes major test

#40

Post by vGPU » Fri, Oct 13, 2023, 5:10 AM UTC

roarcher wrote: post #12

This is pretty amazing, but I wonder--how does the body adapt to having a piece of hardware that extends through the skin? Does the body not see this as an open wound? It seems like being permanently impaled with a metal pole.

It’s more or less the same idea as a dental implant, where the gum grows over it and closes it off to the exterior.

They do have a fairly high rate of both superficial and deep infection but advancements in coatings have improved the situation.

From what I remember, the major challenge was in the nerve-electrode connection, as they have a high failure rate and sending “sensation” signals back can easily cause nerve damage.