Image: Olishaw
According to writer, philosopher and cognitive scientist Andy Clark, being a cyborg is just part of human nature
Generally, the term cyborg refers to a biological being whose capabilities have been enhanced by or are dependent on a machine.
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Watch a clip from Tokyo’s 3D Expo
Nobuhiro Takahashi and his team at the University of Electro Communications in Tokyo have created a huggable robot. The ¨Sense-Roid¨ is shaped like a human torso that is embedded with pressure sensors. The robot is capable of reciprocating a human’s hug with the help of air compressors by being connected to a jacket that is worn by the human user.
The Multimodal Brain Orchestra
Visual art, music and dance allow people to express their emotional experiences and put them on display for others. By using their bodies people produce masterpiece paintings, play glorious symphonies or put on amazing dance recitals but what would happen if we took our bodies out of the equation? This is what the Multimodal Brain Orchestra created by the Synthetic, Perceptive, Emotive and Cognitive Systems (SPECS) group at the University Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona wanted to investigate.
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Hiroshi Ishiguro, director of the Intelligent Robotics Laboratory at Osaka University, Japan and his twin robot
When robots become too real, our approval takes a plunge into ¨The Uncanny Valley¨
Coined by robotics professor Masahiro Mori, ¨The Uncanny Valley¨ is a phenomenon that describes our aversion to robots and or artificial beings after they reach a certain level of human likeness. Many people such as Sigmund Freud and Ernst Jentsch have explored the concept of ¨the uncanny¨
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The 4th edition of the Barcelona Cognition, Brain and Technology 2 week summer school
Check out the programme organized by SPECS, the Synthetic Perceptive, Emotive and Cognitive Systems Group of Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona.
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The famed European robot has made itself a home in laboratories around the globe
iCub is a robot capable of interacting with the world much the way a small child does . It is used to look at how experience and the learning of physical acts can affect the development of cognition. Among other capabilities, iCub is able to: crawl, grasp objects and express emotion through facial expressions. 
Check out the article in nature featuring the icub project leader Giulio Sandini who is also the founder of the LIRA-Lab (Laboratory for Integrated Advanced Robotics) at the University of Genoa and director of research in the Robotics, Brain and Cognitive Sciences department at IIT (the Italian Institute of Technology). Giulio is also a consortium member of the Coordination Action of the Robot Companions for Citizens FET Flagship Initiative.
A fascinating field that allows for the revolutionary use of new materials
Biomechatronics integrates biological elements into artificial devices. A dynamic is created where the biological element carries out a specific function to the system, while the artificial device promotes the adaptation and maintenance of the biological element.
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As the largest organ of the human body, our skin provides us with loads of valuable data
Hot. Sharp. Rough. Wet. Our skin is capable of giving us this type of information about the objects and environment around us. As chair of the Institute for Cognitive Systems at the University of Munich, Gordon Cheng and others are working on producing artificial skin as a system of both hardware and software for new humanoid robots.
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Approximately as large as pills, these tiny robots are made to self-assemble in a human stomach
Earth’s little critters give scientists big ideas
Paolo Dario is a Professor of Biomedical Robotics at the Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna in Pisa who is heavily involved in the study of micro-machines for medical purposes. In coordination with 3 other European Universities, Paolo headed the The ARES Project Continue reading
The Smithsonian Institute of Natural History wants to know!
Click HERE to go to their website and read the opinions of people from all over the world. You can submit your own answer too.