{"id":4671,"date":"2019-10-19T19:09:03","date_gmt":"2019-10-19T13:39:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/?p=4671"},"modified":"2019-10-19T19:09:03","modified_gmt":"2019-10-19T13:39:03","slug":"cyborgs-making-and-the-challenges","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/cyborgs-making-and-the-challenges\/","title":{"rendered":"Cyborgs: Making and the challenges"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Relevance: Mains: G.S paper III: Science and tech<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Why in news?<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>A recent medical trial restored partial sight to six blind people via an implant that transmits video images directly to the brain.<\/li>\n<li>The device used was called Orion, which feeds images from a camera directly to the brain.<\/li>\n<li>\u201cCognitive neuroprosthetics\u201d are devices that directly interface with the brain to improve memory, attention, emotion and much more.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Challenges with existing system<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Current neuromodulation systems need surgical implantation of bulky components with limited battery life.<\/li>\n<li>Batteries impact an intervention\u2019s cost and lifetime, a device\u2019s size and weight, the need for repeat surgeries and problems of tissue-heating and performance compromises. This is due to the relatively high power consumption of the electronics for a given performance requirement.<\/li>\n<li>The National Institutes of Health in the US opines that pacemaker batteries last between 5-15 years, but their average lifespan is 6-7 years; a doctor has to operate again after about 7 years to replace either the battery or the pacemaker itself.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Way forward<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>A flexible chip-type implant that harnesses glucose present in the body and converts it into electrical energy that can power a neurological implant.<\/li>\n<li>The problem of battery size can be tackled by reducing the power consumption and operating the electronics near fundamental levels of physics.<\/li>\n<li>Achieving a higher number of channels, better signal-to-noise ratio, and improved flexibility and robustness while working at ultra-low power can significantly lower implant sizes without sacrificing performance.<\/li>\n<li>Ultra-low-power semiconductors to generate chipsets that have been validated in lab and animal trials.<\/li>\n<li>Spinal cord stimulation and deep brain stimulation are major target applications.<\/li>\n<li>Neuromodulation is the most lucrative sector in the European neurological device market.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Conclusion<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>In India, it is estimated that about 30 million people suffer from various forms of neurological diseases and the average prevalence rate is as high as 2,394 patients per 100,000 of the population.<\/li>\n<li>Current neuromodulation devices cost between $10,000 and $40,000, putting them out of reach for many Indians.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Relevance: Mains: G.S paper III: Science and tech Why in news? A recent medical trial restored partial sight to six<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3528,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[123,42,69],"tags":[392],"class_list":["post-4671","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-current-affairs","category-general-studies-iii-technology-economic-development-bio-diversity-environment-security-and-disaster-management","category-science-and-technology","tag-union-public-service-commission-upsc"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4671","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4671"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4671\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4672,"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4671\/revisions\/4672"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3528"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4671"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4671"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4671"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}