more cooler(er) darpa projects

[complacent]

wired article

this stuff just really geeks me out. i absolutely love reading about it. i'd really love to be smrt enough to be a part of it.

A collaboration led by Johns Hopkins researchers will start human trials on their Modular Prosthetic Limb this year. Micro-arrays are implanted into the brain, allowing a user to operate the prosthetic -- which includes 22-degrees of motion, independent finger movement and weighs only 9 pounds -- with their thoughts alone.

or

Next-generation contact lenses, comprised of sensors, antennae, semiconductor circuits and LEDs, would display key visual data -- the view from a gun camera's scope, or even a text message -- right onto a user's eye.

With funding from the National Science Foundation, Researchers at the University of Washington have already tested the lenses in rabbits, and in a presentation at an Institute for Defense and Government Advancement conference, they noted that they're working to boost pixel count and incorporate color.

In a war-zone, the lenses would have a second application: Additional sensors could monitor health metrics like blood glucose levels and heart rate.

or

Sure, troops might one day communicate telepathically. But they might also control drones, computers -- and weapons -- using a brain-computer interface instead of a button or a trigger.

Monkeys have been doing it for years. In a series of experiments funded by Darpa, Duke University neurologists implanted monkey brains with electrodes, then trained the simian cyborgs to feed themselves bananas from a robotic arm and direct a 200-pound “humanoid robot” walking on a treadmill.

straight out of avatar, right?

[zaxrex]

Researchers at the University of Washington have already tested the lenses in rabbits.

Great. Fucking rabbits with ocular gun sights. Just tie their legs to the trigger, and you have a fully automatic weapon system.

You want someone dead?
Just cozy right on up to them and put a carrot in their back pocket.
Walk away and let nature take it's course.

Now we need a Holly Grail sequel with the new killer rabbit

[Sabre]

DARPA (and IARPA for that matter) do some awesome things. Sometimes, I don't feel like their public endeavors really push the limits like they use to though I still love seeing all the stuff they do. A good friend of mine (Andre) works over there and he loves it.

The prosthetic limb has the ability to give SO much back to troops who come back wounded... I can't wait to see this in wide adoption!

(and sign me up for the eyes too, haha)