千真万确：美国仿生人横空出世

2013-10-14 13:45:47来源：网络

千真万确：美国仿生人横空出世

　　Gentlemen, we can rebuild him, after all. We have the technology.

　　The term “bionic man” was the stuff of science fiction in the 1970s, when popular American TV show called “The Six Million Dollar Man” chronicled the adventures of Steve Austin, a former astronaut whose body was rebuilt using artificial parts after he nearly died.

　　Now, a team of engineers have assembled a robot using artificial organs, limbs and other body parts that comes tantalizingly close to a true “bionic man.” For real, this time.

　　The artificial “man” is the subject of a Smithsonian Channel documentary. Called “The Incredible Bionic Man,” it chronicles engineers’ attempt to assemble a functioning body using artificial parts ranging from a working kidney and circulation system to cochlear and retina implants.

　　The parts hail from 17 manufacturers around the world. This is the first time they’ve been assembled together, says Richard Walker, managing director of Shadow Robot Co and the lead roboticist on the project.

　　“It’s an attempt to showcase just how far medical science has gotten,” he says.

　　The robot is appearing in the US for the first time this week, and is strutting his stuff at the New York Comic Con festival today.

　　Walker says the robot has about 60 to 70 percent of the function of a human. It stands six-and-a-half feet tall (1.85-meter tall) and can step, sit and stand with the help of a Rex walking machine that’s used by people who have lost the ability to walk due to a spinal injury.

　　It also has a functioning heart that, using an electronic pump, beats and circulates artificial blood, which carries oxygen just like human blood. An artificial, implantable kidney replaces the function of a modern-day dialysis unit.

　　Although the parts used in the robot work, many of them are a long way from being used in humans. The kidney, for example, is only a prototype. And there are some key parts missing: there’s no digestive system, liver, or skin. And, of course, no brain.

　　The bionic man was modeled after Bertolt Meyer, a 36-year-old social psychologist at the University of Zurich who was born without his lower left arm and wears a bionic prosthesis.

　　The bionic man’s face was created based on a 3D scan of Meyer’s face.

　　“We wanted to showcase that the technology can provide aesthetic prostheses for people who have lost parts of their faces,” Meyer says.

　　And the cost? As it turns out, this bionic man comes cheaper than his US$6-million-dollar sci-fi cousin. While the parts used in the experiment were donated, their value is about US$1 million.

文章梗概：

　　一批美国工程师利用人造器官、肢体和其它身体组织，成功组装出会呼吸、说话和走路都很逼真仿生人(bionic man)，11日在纽约国际动漫展公开亮相。

　　美国媒体本月20日晚上将播出纪录片《不可思议的生化电子人》(The Incredible Bionic Man)，描述这些工程师如何利用人造肾脏、血液循环系统，一直到植入式电子耳和视网膜等组件，组装能够实际运作的机器人。

　　主持这项计划的影子机器人公司主管沃尔克(Richard Walker)说，他们利用全球各地17家厂商提供的组件组装生化电子人，以期显示医学已有多大的进展。

　　他说，这具机器人身高6.5英尺(约1.98米)，拥有大约六、七成真人的功能，能在Rex助步机协助下，走动、坐下和站立。

　　它配置的人工心脏，能够利用电子工具跳动和促成人造血液循环，像人类一样输送氧气。它也用植入式人工肾脏，取代现代洗肾机。

　　虽然机器人使用的许多组件都可以发挥必要功能，可是距供人体使用还很遥远。例如，它的人工肾脏只是原型产品。它也还欠缺许多重要组件，没有消化系统、肝脏或皮肤。当然，它也没有脑子。

　　这个仿生人是以苏黎世大学36岁的社会心理学家梅尔(Bertolt Meyer)为蓝本。梅尔天生就没有左下臂，装配了生化电子义肢。

　　他说：“我们希望显示科技能为因意外事故或生病，失去鼻子或其它肢体的人，提供漂亮的义肢。”

　　这项实验所使用的组件是由各方捐赠，总值约为100万美元。

本文关键字: 仿生人血液循环肾脏