He walks, he talks, he has a beating heart, but he's not human - he's the world's first fully bionic being. This creature was "revived" on October 20 at 18:00 pm.
Like Frankenstein's monster, assembled from parts of many bodies, the bionic man is a fusion of the most advanced human prostheses - from robotic limbs to artificial organs and a synthetic circulatory system.
Its creation was led by English roboticists Rich Walker and Matthew Godden of Shadow Robot Co, assembling a bionic man from prosthetics and artificial organs provided to them by many laboratories around the world.
The nearly $1 million robot is modeled in many physical respects after Bertolt Mayer, a social psychologist at the University of Zurich who wears one of the most advanced bionic arms in the world.
The new bionic human has the same prosthetic as Mayer's, an i-LIMB made by Touch Bionics with a rotating wrist and motors in each finger. To date, its capabilities are simply amazing.
The robot also has a pair of bionic knees and feet from Bedford, Massachusetts-based BiOM, designed by MIT bioengineer Hugh Herr, who lost his legs after being caught in a violent blizzard during his youth.
To support his artificial legs, the bionic man wears a robotic exoskeleton called "Rex", which is made by REX Bionics of New Zealand.
But this is not the end of the matter - in addition to the limbs, he has an almost complete set of artificial organs, including a synthetic heart, blood, lungs (and trachea), pancreas, spleen, kidneys and a working circulatory system.
On top of that, the bionic human artificial "brain" can mimic some of the functions of the human brain. He has artificial eyes that give limited vision to blind people. He also has a cochlear implant, a speech recognition system, and the actual speech system.
Engineers have equipped the bionic man with a sophisticated chatbot program that can effectively carry on a conversation. The only problem is that, according to Walker, it has the personality of an "annoying 13-year-old boy from Ukraine."
But perhaps the most unnerving part of the bionic man is his artificial face. It is an exact replica of Mayer's face, but when Mayer himself saw it, he hated it at first sight, saying that it was "strange".
As a result, the bionic man successfully mimics about two-thirds of the human body. However, it lacks several large organs, including the liver, stomach and intestines, which are still too complex to recreate in the laboratory.
It must be said that the creation of this bionic human raises some ethical and philosophical questions: Is the creation of something so humanlike a threat to our understanding of what it means to be human? How many enhancements to the human body can be considered acceptable? And how right is it that only an exceptionally small number of people have access to such life-extending technologies?
The question of access to such technologies is the most problematic, says Walker. "It reminds us that the preservation of life and the quality of life in our world has become a technical and economic issue."
He walks, he talks, and his heart beats, but it is not alive, but the first in the world completely. Like the Frankenstein monster, assembled from various parts of the body, the bionic man is a combination of the most advanced prosthetic technologies for humans - from artificial organs and systems for pumping and circulating blood.
Million dollar man
Roboticists Rich Walker and Matthew Godden of the English company Shadow Robot have led a study to assemble a bionic human from prosthetic parts and artificial organs donated by labs around the world.
“Our task was to get a vast collection of body parts - organs, limbs, eyes, heads - and within six crazy months turn it all into a bionic person,” says Rich Walker. - But it's not so easy, because it's not a children's designer. A person is fitted with a prosthesis in the place where there is no own organ. But we didn’t have a person - we created a base on which we installed artificial parts.
The nearly US$1 million robot was in some respects modeled after Bertolt Meyer, a social psychologist at the University of Zurich, Switzerland, who wears one of the most advanced in the world.
The bionic man has the same hand prosthesis as Meyer's, an i-LIMB device made by Touch Bionics with a wrist that can fully rotate and move each finger. The grasping abilities of the hand are amazing, but the bionic man still occasionally drops drinks. “This is not the best bartender in the world,” notes Rich Walker.
The Bionic Man is equipped with a pair of robotic knees and legs from BiOM in Massachusetts, USA, designed and worn by bioengineer Hug Herr, who lost his legs as a teenager after suffering from hypothermia in a blizzard.
To give support to the prosthetic legs, the device wears a robotic exoskeleton called "Rex", manufactured by REX Bionics of New Zealand. Due to the clumsy gait, the robot is unusually reminiscent of Frankenstein.
Organs from the factory
But that is not all. A bionic person also has an almost complete set of artificial organs, including blood, lungs (and), pancreas, spleen, kidneys, as well as a functional circulatory system. 
The artificial heart, made by the American company Syn Cardia Systems, has been implanted in more than 100 people to replace their own, worn-out heart for a period of 6 to 12 months before a transplant is available, Walker says. The circulatory system, made by medical researcher Alex Seifalian of University College London, is made up of veins and arteries made from a polymer used to create artificial organs of any shape.
Although the artificial brain of a bionic person would not satisfy the hero of the fairy tale "The Wizard of the Emerald City", it is still able to imitate some functions. It is equipped with , manufactured by the Californian company "Second Sight", which can restore vision to a limited extent in blind people. In addition, this brain has a built-in cochlear implant, as well as speech recognition and reproduction systems.
Engineers have equipped the bionic man with an extremely sophisticated communication program capable of carrying on a conversation. According to Walker, the personality of a 13-year-old spoiled boy from Ukraine is embedded in the program.
The most discouraging aspect of the bionic man, however, is his artificial face. This is an eerie copy of Meyer's appearance. But Meyer himself hated this creation at first sight, calling it ridiculous.
The humanoid robot successfully reproduces about two-thirds of the human body, but it lacks a number of important organs, such as the liver, stomach and intestines, which are still too complex to manufacture in the laboratory.
Bionic Man raises a number of ethical and philosophical questions. Does the creation of such humanoid machines threaten the understanding of what it means to be human? To what extent is the perfection of the body acceptable? Is it wrong that only a few people have access to such life extension technologies?
Accessibility is a particular concern. “The preservation of life and its quality has become at its core a technical and economic issue,” Walker said.
The Bionic Man debuted in the US in October of this year and can be viewed at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum.
Deep wounds, burns all over the body, a lethal dose of radiation - for the heroes of science fiction, all this is not a reason to say goodbye to life. It is believed that the medicine of the future will be able to bring even a hopelessly sick or injured person back to life by transplanting artificial organs instead of the affected ones.
"Artificial body parts, organs and limbs that are astonishingly close to natural were provided to our robotics team by 17 manufacturers from around the world," said Richard Walker, managing director of the company, who became the leader of the revolutionary project. “Our development is designed to show how far medicine and biology have come.”
The new robot performs 60 to 70% of the functions human body. He is 185 centimeters tall and can sit, stand and walk using the Rex walker, which is commonly used to provide movement for people with severe spinal injuries.
The bionic man is also equipped with an artificial heart, which, using an electronic pump, pumps artificial blood and provides oxygen transport. Kidney implants perform the function of dialysis.
True, many of the systems of the "organism" of the robot are still difficult to combine with real biological tissues. For example, the kidneys are still a prototype. Many organs, unfortunately, are completely absent: a bionic person does not have digestive system, liver, skin and, of course, the brain.
The prototype of the "cyborg" is Bertolt Meyer, a 36-year-old social psychologist at the University of Zurich who was born without a left arm and wears a bionic prosthesis. So, the face of the new robot was created from 3D scans of Mayer's face.
“We wanted to demonstrate what modern technology can provide for people who are deprived of certain body parts,” Mayer says. However, the psychologist even admitted that when he first saw the bionic man, he experienced some kind of disgust. Still, it's rather strange to see a robot with a face that you look at every day in the mirror. Mayer's strange feelings disappeared only when the developers dressed the robot in fashionable clothes from the British department store Harrods.
The cost of a bionic man is much lower than science fiction thought - $ 1 million. However, all artificial organs and limbs were donated by the development companies to Shadow Robot Co.
The first presentation of the new robot took place at the famous New York Comic Con on Friday, October 11, 2013.
His name is Rex. He's almost human...
A "bionic man" is a "man" made entirely of prosthetics. This is not the only wooden leg of a one-legged pirate. The whole "man" as a whole!
The prostheses were brought by aircraft from around the world. These are the best modern prostheses created using the most advanced technologies in the field of prosthetics around the world. From these prostheses, as if from the details of a children's designer, they assembled ... almost a person? Or, after all, a robot?
Here, if ordinary person all limbs and, for example, the heart are prosthetic, he continues to be considered a man. And if everything is prosthetic? This creation of engineers, doctors and psychologists was called "bionic man". They named it Rex. Perhaps in order to emphasize his closeness to the person. Still, a dog is much closer and friendlier to a person than a robot.
Speaking of friendliness. Rex was not created to provoke religious, philosophical or ethical discussions. Rex is an example of effective benevolent help to a person. A battery-powered electric heart beats in Rex's chest. It pumps synthetic blood through synthetic vessels. Such a heart prosthesis has saved the lives of many people. And vascular prostheses too ...
Rex has one kidney. It is even difficult to say how many people on Earth this engineering product saved their lives.
Rex has eyes with goggles capable of converting an image into a digitized signal and fully simulating human vision. Thanks to this, thousands of people on the planet will be able to see the light.
According to some sources, Rex has a pancreas, spleen, trachea. This means that hundreds and thousands of people will get a chance at life.
Rex has artificial limbs, joints and the so-called exoskeleton - an external frame that simulates the biomechanical functions of a person. The exoskeleton returns the ability to move to people who have suffered injuries or diseases and are paralyzed. A paralyzed person puts on an exoskeleton with electric drives and gets the opportunity to walk and move his arms. If the limbs are amputated, the exoskeleton is supplemented with prostheses, and the person can live and even work. And if the internal organs are removed, they are also replaced with prostheses. And then ... next Rex. He has no lungs yet, and no stomach. After all, the problem is not only in creating a model of natural human organs, but in making it a fully functional reliable product that adequately performs its functions.
Rex can see, hear, speak. According to some reports, thanks to artificial intelligence, he can answer simple questions. But all this is not done for the amusement of the viewer. Rex is a reference project, in terms of technical excellence, that sets the highest standards in modern prosthetics and shows them to people. And this project cost the creators $1 million. Only $1 million! Let's compare this amount with the annual investment in wars and drugs! After that, all religious and ethical statements about the inadmissibility of modeling a person or his organs will seem like the delirium of madmen. People live in a world where there are wars and drug trafficking, and if a tiny part of the money goes not for death, but for life, that's good!
There are several companies in the world dealing with bionic limbs and exoskeletons. This is Argo Medical Technologies Ltd. in Israel, Honda Motors in Japan, several companies in the US and of course Rex Bionics in New Zealand. Rex Bionics was founded about 8 years ago by two enthusiastic friends whose mothers were wheelchairs. As a result of their passion, technical creativity and personal investment, sick and injured people have been able to lead more fulfilling lives. One of the stories is described.
The two-meter android Rex was exhibited at the London Science Museum. And from February 7, Rex can be seen not only by specialist scientists, but also by ordinary visitors to the exhibition. The inspirer of the project is the scientist of the University of Zurich, a social psychologist from Switzerland, Berthold Mayer. By an evil twist of fate, Mayer was born with a congenital deformity - without his left hand. Mayer, 35, was recently fitted with a bionic prosthetic arm, and now the scientist can pick up objects and even make complex rotational movements with his hand. It is no coincidence that Rex's artificial face is an exact copy of the face of Mayer himself, and in the photographs it looks impressive.
Berthold Mayer appreciates scientific result this project. Indeed, thanks to this, thousands of people will be able to live and create more fully, like Mayer himself. Ethical issues may arise if artificial human organs outperform natural ones, and then people may want to replace the "parts" of their healthy bodies to more advanced ones. For example, to create a more effective army of such people.
Compiled by Igor and Larisa Shiryaeva.
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