Lily：research 3 pages

Name

Mrs. Watts

English 20-1

18 October 2017

Bionics: the Effects on Social Perspectives

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to determine if bionics will affect how people with

disabilities are treated and viewed. To conduct this study, the developments of this

technology by scientists and the stigma around disabilities will be looked at. This study will

benefit people with disabilities such as paralysis, amputations, blindness, along with a variety

of others, by giving them the chances to be viewed as equal. The anticipated outcome of this

study is to discover how far bionics is able to go in terms of changing the social stigma and

mimicking human skin, which will benefit people who have had amputations by allowing

them to do everyday things such as walking more easily and be treated equally.

Introduction

The goal of bionics is to improve human movement and systems that have been

damaged or weakened by various causes, but how far is this technology able to go to repair

these damages? Can bionics fully mimic human skin and movement? Can it surpass it?

Bionics is the combination of engineering and medical sciences to create technology to

substitute lost limbs with electronic ones. Bionics use neural implants to allow people with

prosthetics to control the limb with their brain, which allows for a wider range of movement;

a contrast to non-electronic or standard prosthetics. Research in this field has increased over

the years as technology has developed. A popular publication is one done by Massachusetts

Institute of Technology also known as MIT. They have been fitting these bionic limbs for the

past few years and have seen positive results, but they do not know what kind of impact these

bionic limbs will have on the social perspectives of disabilities. Continuing to research

bionics will benefit people with disabilities greatly and will change the relationship between

human and technology, thus allowing a further understanding of how versatile and adaptable

technology can be. My goal in this research is to find out how bionics work to mimic real

limbs and if this design will impact people with prosthetics by allowing them to be seen as

equals and do more than one thought was possible.

Literature review

There are approximately 1.7 million people in the United States with amputations

(​Ziegler-Graham​, 1), and approximately 10 million worldwide with amputations (LeBlanc,

1). With these statistics learning new ways to help people move is important. As mentioned

in the introduction, MIT is one of the organizations working on these movements and they

have a 100 million dollar plan (Galeon, 1) to be carried out in the next five years, dedicated to

this cause. Hugh Herr, one of the researchers on bionics and a fellow amputee himself, has

dedicated his life to finding new ways to move through the use of technology so he could

return to rock climbing. His prediction is that “​The profound legacy of bionics will be the

elimination of disability​” ​(Herr, 1 ) Similarly another question was posed,“​What if there

were no such thing as human disability?” (MIT media lab,1) Both of these quotations

suggest that the future of bionics could allow disabilities such as amputations to become less

life-altering because bionics will allow for normal function.

Bionic legs were debuted on a TED talk in 2013. On the TED talk Hugh Herr

(mentioned above), explained how the bionic limbs work by using three distinct interfaces:

dynamic, mechanical, and electrical (Herr,1). The dynamic interface is how the bionic moves

and how it makes this movement as natural as possible, the mechanical interface is how the

bionic limb is attached to the human skin, and the electrical is how the limb communicates

with the nervous system. All of these interfaces come together to create the bionic limb which

has been fitted on a variety of people including soldiers, and on the TED talk a dancer who

had been present at the Boston Marathon bombs and had lost her leg. She later performed and

her bionic leg moved quite similarly to a human one. Hugh Herr also mentioned how he hid

his bionic legs under pants and no one knew that he had them, because the limbs allowed him

to walk close to normal and do things such as rock climbing people never thought was

possible with a physical disability.

Another organization that has been working on bionics is Darpa, the US government’s

defence research agency, popular with its work in military robotics. From the research found,

Darpa has been able to manufacture a prosthetic hand that can ‘feel’, by using electrodes on

the person's sensory cortex, the part of the brain associated with senses. Jason Sanchez, who

is in charge of the Darpa program claims that “We’ve completed the circuit.” By making the

link between technology and senses, the prosthetic limb has been developed even further

allowing more benefits to people in need of them. Jason Sanchez also states that “this work

shows the potential for seamless bio-technological restoration of near-natural function.” An

experiment done at Darpa shows this potential (Collins, 1) Through the use of a bionic hand,

a volunteer was able to feel when someone touched each of his mechanical fingers, using the

connection to the sensory cortex as mentioned earlier. Therefore, near natural function could

undoubtedly be possible for the future.

Methodology

If I were to conduct this study, I think that the best way to go about it is to look at

society's views on people with prosthetics. By looking at these views one would be able to

identify how bionics would change these perspectives. Another aspect that will be looked at

is the scientific research. I will look at the potential for this technology and what kind of

developments could be in the works.

Sample size

Around 100 people will be surveyed to see what perspectives exist on prosthetics

already, what the common perspective on bionic limbs are, and if these perspectives differ.

To determine scientific research, I will interview multiple scientists and researchers in this

field.

Procedure

Using two people with prosthetics (one bionic and one standard), and taking them

around a city and see how people react and if they notice the bionic limbs. This will give a

sense as to how people would view people with bionic limbs in public and if there would be a

difference in starting or questions. This data will be recorded by asking the people on the

street a series of questions involving what they saw and how it makes them feel. I will also

look deeper into scientific research and be able to interview some researchers and scientists to

get a better idea for the future of bionics. These interviews will be recorded on camera. After

both parts are finished the data from people's opinions, the scientific facts and predictions

will be combined to draw some conclusions and answer my research question: will the

development of bionics affect how people with amputations are viewed?

Dissemination

The research and data found after the experiment is completed will be communicated

through seminars and publications. Seminars will allow me to share my findings and give

chances for various speakers to tell their stories, or their research to really get the underlying

answer across. These seminars could be hosted through different organizations that research

bionics. To spread the research, publications online or possibly in paper will be created.

Publications such as an article posted online would get the information out to many people at

once.

Bibliography Bast, Morton. “You’ve given Me My Body Back: A Q&A with Hugh Herr.” TED Blog, 19 Mar. 2015, https://blog.ted.com/youve-given-me-my-body-back-a-qa-with-hugh-herr/ Collins, Katie. “Bionic Hand Can Feed Physical Sensations Directly to the Brain.” WIRED UK, 4 Oct. 2017,​ www.wired.co.uk/article/darpa-creates-feeling-prosthetic-arm. Galeon, Dom. “There's a $100 Million Plan to End Paralysis with a Synthetic Spinal Cord.”Business Insider, 13 Sept. 2017, ​www.businessinsider.com/synthetic-spinal-cord-paralysis-plan-2017-9?amp​. “Group Overview ‹ Center for Extreme Bionics – MIT Media Lab.” MIT Media Lab www.media.mit.edu/groups/center-for-extreme-bionics/overview/​. Herr, Hugh. “The New Bionics That Let Us Run, Climb and Dance.” TED Talk, Mar. 2014, https://www.ted.com/talks/hugh_herr_the_new_bionics_that_let_us_run_climb_and_dance LeBlanc, Maurice. "Give Hope-Give a Hand". Stanford , 9 Nov. 2008, https://web.stanford.edu/class/engr110/2011/LeBlanc-03a.pdf Ziegler-Graham, Kathryn, et al. ​Amputation Statistics​. Center for Orthotic and Prosthetic Care, www.centeropcare.com/Portals/COPC/Amputation%20Statistics.pdf.