Professions of the future: cyber prosthesis engineer
"In 50 years we will become semi-cyborgs with organ firmware in the service center"
Anastasia Shevtsova, "Nation"
In 2015, the Skolkovo Innovation Center released the Atlas of New Professions. It contains those types of human activity that will finally become obsolete by 2030, and those that will be in maximum demand by that time (although some of them do not even exist yet).
Together with the Fitron fitness club, we selected several interesting professions of the future from Atlas and talked with their representatives or heralds.
Today we are talking with Ilya Chekhov, the founder and CEO of the company "Motorika", which is engaged in the development of high-tech prostheses.
– Previously, prostheses were dummies or the simplest mechanisms. What are modern prostheses and where is it all going?
– Modern prosthetics is developing in three directions. The first is the maximum copying of the functional of the limb. It's about increasing the number of degrees of freedom (everyone wants to create a prosthesis with the dexterity of a real hand) and upgrading the control system. Now the prosthesis recognizes only two signals of the forearm muscles, in multi-grip prostheses, gesture switching occurs by going through commands, which makes control difficult and requires long training. The developers are trying to create a prosthesis that would recognize 6-8 signals from various muscles of the arm. This will allow the native (natural) control each finger.
In general, it is already possible to make a prosthesis that will move each finger and look like an ordinary hand. The shell is made of silicone, which feels very similar to human skin, you can even make hairs and veins. But it's insanely expensive.
The second direction is to improve the appearance. Now such a concept is becoming more and more popular: a prosthesis is not a visual copy of a hand, but a functional gadget with an interesting design. Many users, especially young ones, choose prostheses without cosmetic shells at all.
And the third direction, which only our company is currently engaged in, is the expansion of the functionality of the prosthesis – beyond what the human hand can do. We try to integrate into the prosthesis all the functionality of a smartphone, a fitness tracker, bank cards, travel documents and so on. So that a person with a prosthesis does not need to use any additional devices at all.
– Is it really possible to make a prosthesis sensitive, like a hand – able to feel touch, warmth, prick?
– Yes, there are two ways of development. The first, simple one is to fix the external effect on the prosthesis without transmitting information about it to the nervous system. For example, when touched, the prosthesis begins to vibrate, and the person feels this vibration. But this is a rather clumsy method.
Sensitivity, close to natural, requires surgical intervention during prosthetics – implantation of electrodes. Such technologies are just beginning to emerge now. I think the first electrodes that will be able to fully transmit information about touches, temperature, pressure on the prosthesis will appear in 5-7 years. They will bring sensory information to the nervous system.
– Will these electrodes work in the opposite direction? Will people be able to control prosthetics with the power of thought?
– Theoretically, yes, but first it will be a divided system. At the first stage, it is easier to make a separate implantable electrode that will connect to the intramuscular tissue and send the appropriate signal to the brain. The other electrode will transmit the order in the opposite direction. And only then, in some near future, the same electrode will be able to both read and transmit information.
– How far do Russian developments in prosthetics lag behind foreign ones?
– As for the basic technologies, we are not lagging behind and are not at all inferior to foreign models. But if we talk about invasive technologies – with implantation, then, of course, there is practically no work being done here. It is very expensive and difficult in terms of regulation, government regulations. Therefore, we are still lagging behind in the most promising direction, but we hope, including with the help of our projects and initiatives, to turn the situation around and start developing invasive technologies in Russia.
Bioelectric (black from BeBionic) and mechanical (white from "Motility") prosthetic hands. Photo: motorica.org
– What advantages can there be in prosthetics, except for the built-in smartphone? What can a person with bionic prostheses do that an ordinary person cannot?
– There are a lot of options for modifying prostheses. In the future, they will be divided into household and professional. The latter can be used as any working tool. I came to work, took off my prosthesis "for life", put on a specialized one and started performing my tasks. For example, you can make a prosthesis for foundry workers, which will allow you to work even with molten metal without additional protection. You can embed a huge number of functions – there is enough imagination for that.
– What can the development of bionics lead to? Is it possible to assume that in the future it will be possible to prosthetize not only limbs, but also organs?
– Absolutely. Moreover, it is already possible now. There is already an artificial heart, lungs, pancreas, liver. Many organs exist in the form of prototypes, or already as serial models. Yes, so far their functionality is limited, and they are used only in extreme cases, but gradually it will become quite a routine procedure. And it is unlikely that an organ grown in a test tube will be able to compare in functionality and durability with an electronic device.
– What about the most complex organ – the brain? For example, elderly people with memory impairments will simply be implanted with modules that will work as a memory card in a smartphone.
– This is the very near future. Various neurostimulators are already being used – for the same Parkinson's disease and similar diseases – which help to get rid of tremors and improve the quality of life. Experiments are underway to implant electrodes into the sensorimotor cortex – to control exoskeletons and additional robotic limbs in completely paralyzed people. This is all so far in the field of rather dangerous experiments, but in 10-15 years the use of such surgical technologies will become widespread, as tablets are now.
– What awaits us in 50-100 years?
– In 50-100 years, we will stop being half-cyborgs, with half of the replaced organs, with annual visits to service centers where we will update the firmware and change worn-out implants. The development of bionics and cybernetic biotechnologies will lead to the cyborgization of the Earth's population.
It sounds scary, but it really isn't. This is one of the scenarios of the next evolutionary turn – a person will move from a biological species to a biomechanical one. We, "Motorika", are also conducting educational work. Our goal is to create a whole community, we call it "Cyborg Territory". We help people adapt to a new life, tell them about the future.
– Don't you think that some healthy people will want to become cyborgs for the sake of acquiring superpowers? What can this lead to?
– There are fears that the upgrade will become widespread, that there may be a rather rigid division of society into semi-cyborgs and ordinary people. The emergence of black markets where it will be possible to get "spare parts" on the cheap is not excluded. Here, of course, the state should intervene and regulate the process. You can't ban everything in a row, but some restrictions are mandatory. But, most importantly, the state should make every effort to ensure that such technologies are safe: conduct educational work, control the market, and prevent non-certified products from being sold.
– Where is that thin red thread that will separate a "pumped" person from a non-person?
– It seems to me that there are two possible options here. The first one is well shown in the film "The Bicentennial Man" (a film adaptation of the novel by Isaac Asimov, starring Robin Williams, 1999), when this issue is resolved in court. In this case, the concept of "person" will be fixed at the legislative level: a clear definition of who it is, up to the physical and chemical composition.
In the second possible option, it is not the state that decides, but the person himself. That is, the fact of self-awareness by a person will be important. The presence of a working living brain will be a prerequisite for a person to recognize even someone who has a completely biomechanical body. At the same time, chips and electrodes implanted in the brain will not be an obstacle, they are just executive mechanisms.
A shot from the movie "Bicentennial man".
– Almost all scientific and technical innovations are used by the military. Remember the same "Edge of the Future" with Tom Cruise – where soldiers fought in huge exoskeletons.
– In fact, not all advanced technologies are used by the military, although they are initiated mainly by them. Yes, the development of exoskeletons – both Russian and foreign – began as a military project. But as a result, these technologies, at least so far, have not found application in the military sphere, and now they are used in the "civilian": in medicine and industry.
– Who and where will teach your profession?
– This, of course, will not be one faculty or even one institute. In the field of prosthetics, different technical specialists are in demand, each of them is focused on his task. These are programmers, engineers, designers with various consoles. As, for example, in "Motorika" there is now an engineer-designer of cyber prostheses.
Bioengineering will develop as a combination of many specialties. A person will be considered not as an organism, but as an engineering system.
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