Bionic Body

Recently researchers announced they'd successfully replaced a sheep's heart with a fully robotic one. It's an amazing achievement which got us thinking how much of the human body can now be replaced with bionic parts? The answer might surprise you. Here's Carl.

This is the moment one lucky kid got to meet his hero.

ROBERT DOWNEY Jr: Hey Alex how are you? Pleasure to meet you.

Yep that's ironman, an actual super hero.

ROBERT DOWNEY Jr: I thought I'd drop by.

Thank you.

Yeah it's a pleasure, nice bow tie by the way.

Thank you.

How were your travels?

Very good.

Alex was born with a partially developed right arm and he hopes something known as bionic technology can replace it.

ROBERT DOWNEY Jr: You ready?

Yep

Great

Each one looks the same.

Actually I think yours might be better than mine.

Well maybe not better than this.

But certainly more realistic.

ROBERT DOWNEY Jr: God it's even cooler than I thought!

Both of these guys are wearing bionic body parts. That's basically any technology or robotics that can replace parts of our body or make them better.

Although Tony Stark wore the ironman suit to make him stronger, for Alex, and the guy who made and donated this arm, bionic technology is more about restoring parts we've lost, weren't born with, or that aren't working anymore.

And you might be surprised to hear that Aussie kids were among the first users of this type of technology. The cochlear implant, also known as the bionic ear, is an Australian invention. Designed in Melbourne in the late 1970s, it lets those without hearing experience sound again. And it's already helped hundreds of thousands of people around the world! But that's not the only bionic technology around. Arms and legs were some of the first wave, and they've become incredibly sophisticated!

But scientists and engineers have even had some success developing replaceable organs - things like bionic hearts, lungs and kidneys. Some scientists in the US have even replaced a small part of the brain in rats, mice and monkeys. And these world-first bionic eyes are currently being developed in Australia.

There's even engineered bones, cartilage and skin! If we throw all of that together some scientists argue about 60 per-cent of the human body could now be replaced with bionic parts. And to show that, the Smithsonian museum made this documentary called the bionic man.

Rex can move. It, or he, can hear and see basic things. Its lungs, heart and kidneys are all partly functional. It even has artificial blood made out of plastic! Even if Rex looks a bit clunky, the experiment shows just how far we've come in developing these parts, and how they might help someone. And with 3D printing it's even easier to make this stuff.

But not everyone is happy with the idea of bionic technology. Some are concerned about what could happen if those spare parts are stronger, faster or more durable than our human body. Maybe people would choose to get them! But no one knows if that's really going to happen.

So in the mean time these bionic inventions are all focused on making peoples' lives better, and finding new ways to let people like Alex experience the world just like everyone else.

• Carl Smith | Reporter
• Bionic heart breakthrough: Scientists transplant device into sheep, hope for clinical trials: ABC News | weblink
• Bionic Bodies: BBC News | weblink
• Bionic Eye: Behind the News | history
• Bionic Eye: Behind the News | history
• Bionic Body | Worksheet
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