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[extremetech] MIT creates glucose fuel cell to power implanted brain-computer interfaces

2K views 26 replies 18 participants last post by  GingerJohn 
#1 ·
Quote:
Neuroengineers at MIT have created a implantable fuel cell that generates electricity from the glucose present in the cerebrospinal fluid that flows around your brain and spinal cord. In theory, this fuel cell could eventually drive low-power sensors and computers that decode your brain activity to interface with prosthetic limbs.
Source

Not sure if this should go in hardware or not.....still very cool!
 
#3 ·
Nice... Prosthetics are getting futuristic rather quickly, aren't they?
 
#5 ·
This is cool. All sorts of implants could be run off your own body instead of needing a battery.

Think of the basics. Pacemakers. As time goes by the number of different implants any normal person could end up with is just going to increase. This is another step toward making them better. I doubt if a glucose fuel cell setup could produce enough power to do anything large scale though, like prosthetic limbs. But is certainly sounds plausible that enough power could be produced for other things, like pacemakers, or internal drug dispensers (think of a blood sugar monitoring and continuous real time adjustment of levels with an internally mounted reservoir of insulin for diabetics), or cybernetic eyes, or HUD's built into our eyes, or an inbody computer, or any number of low power applications.
 
#7 ·
#8 ·
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Originally Posted by Ch13f121 View Post

I didn't ask for this.
I'm not sure what you are implying... Am I missing a reference?
 
#10 ·
#11 ·
#12 ·
Not going to lie I'd love some modifications just because the body I got was faulty any way (looks at useless left foot).
 
#15 ·
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Originally Posted by Rubers View Post

Damn you!!
Hey, spread the love man
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#16 ·
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Originally Posted by SpankyMcFlych View Post

This is another step toward making them better. I doubt if a glucose fuel cell setup could produce enough power to do anything large scale though, like prosthetic limbs.
I believe the point of this is to power the interface, not the prosthetic itself. If it uses cerebrospinal fluid, then it can actually be implanted subcranially, without the need for a power source to be tethered to it.
 
#17 ·
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Is deus Ex good, havent tried it and that trailer made the story look insanely interesting, if it is i might have to buy it

On Topic: this science looks promising, my mother used to use a battery inside her body for a neurostimulater implant, this would've helped her when she was on vacation and we had to leave earlier, because she forgot it, and iirc she's supposed to charge it every five days
 
#18 ·
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Originally Posted by naelus View Post

Quote:
Is deus Ex good, havent tried it and that trailer made the story look insanely interesting, if it is i might have to buy it

On Topic: this science looks promising, my mother used to use a battery inside her body for a neurostimulater implant, this would've helped her when she was on vacation and we had to leave earlier, because she forgot it, and iirc she's supposed to charge it every five days
Off: Yes it is a fantastic game with some replay value in it, story is solid and combat is great I highly recommend it

On: One of my good friends is super into prosthesis R&D, so I got the whole schpiel about the advances this could bring about. Personally I'm waging on these being commonplace. You could even use it to like charge phones and crap, not just this. Networking the human being -
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#19 ·
Oh come on an awesome announcement like this and theres maybe 1 or 2 good posts in here?

I came here for entertainment!

For shame Overclock....

To be on topic, I wish they would figure out how to connect things to the optic nerve soon, I am very blind and my vision is only getting worse. You could equate my vision and perfect vision to the differences between 240p and1080p, except my 240p is all blurry and not magnified enough. Its becoming hard for me to see fine details, like grain in wood, or fine ripples in walls or ceilings styled that way.

I wish with every fiber of my being that they can make a camera that surpasses the human eye, and could hook it to my optic nerve.

I would put myself and my family into a life of financial hardship if these were actually available. I do not see myself living without sight, Ill likely kill myself it that ever happens.
 
#20 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by SpankyMcFlych View Post

I doubt if a glucose fuel cell setup could produce enough power to do anything large scale though, like prosthetic limbs.
On the other hand, the body does just that. Converts glucose into ATP then uses that to power our muscles.

Long term I can see this being used to power artificial limbs, but that is quite a few years away. Short term I agree with your suggestions - pace makers, eye implants, automatic dosing machines and so on.

Then we can go a step further - implanted phones, tracking devices, ID chips (tin foil hat time) are possible.
 
#21 ·
I don't really see the whole point about it, considering the brain alone consumes a huge part of the energy we get from food (from 20 to 25%) and that this energy equals to consuming 100W per day, we would need some incredibly efficient chips for this to work and keeping our brains "fed" with energy all the time (if brain gets no energy for a long time, it might become brain damage. We could also feel quite a bit more dumb due to low energy until we got used to the higher methabolic need of energy).

It's a real breakthrough if well done, no question about it, but imho there should be something to compensate for the energy loss or it needs to be extensively tested before release to guarantee no side effects.
 
#22 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by naelus View Post

Is deus Ex good, havent tried it and that trailer made the story look insanely interesting, if it is i might have to buy it
On Topic: this science looks promising, my mother used to use a battery inside her body for a neurostimulater implant, this would've helped her when she was on vacation and we had to leave earlier, because she forgot it, and iirc she's supposed to charge it every five days
Yeah it's bloody great =D I've been playing it non-stop for about 3 weeks. On my third playthrough right now!
 
#23 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by DeMS View Post

I don't really see the whole point about it, considering the brain alone consumes a huge part of the energy we get from food (from 20 to 25%) and that this energy equals to consuming 100W per day, we would need some incredibly efficient chips for this to work and keeping our brains "fed" with energy all the time (if brain gets no energy for a long time, it might become brain damage. We could also feel quite a bit more dumb due to low energy until we got used to the higher methabolic need of energy).
It's a real breakthrough if well done, no question about it, but imho there should be something to compensate for the energy loss or it needs to be extensively tested before release to guarantee no side effects.
Well, already 1 or 2W would be plenty for basic circuitry... microcontrollers really don't need a lot of power nowadays and it's only going to drop further.
 
#24 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rubers View Post

Yes. Finally I can power my Augmentations with this:
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(whoever gets the reference is awesome)
Haha Indeed this is the first step in the Human Revolution
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