Human augmentation is often thought of as a kind of extreme, futuristic technology, but the truth is that many types of human augmentation can be used right now. If it’s done right, augmentation can improve our health, entertainment, productivity, and quality of life
“Technologies that help people be more productive or do better work” is a common way to describe human augmentation. A person can’t use an augment unless it’s so integrated into their daily life that it feels like part of them. Some things are only useful when you need them, like a hammer, so they wouldn’t be an add-on. However, if an exoskeleton is sufficiently discrete, it may become as natural to your life as walking and so serve as an augment. That means laptops aren’t really “augmentations,” but phones and smartwatches can be “augmentations,” too. It’s almost always with you or on you, and it helps you be able to get to any information at any time.
To qualify as an augmentation by our definition, technology must be a constant and intuitive part of the human experience on a moment-to-moment level. A tool doesn’t become part of you, but an augmentation almost always does. The term “augmentations” is used to describe things like eyeglasses and pacemakers as well as prosthetics, wearable devices, chip implants, and genetic changes.
A person can be augmented in many different ways
A lot of people are interested in the human augmentation market because it can make us “superhumans,” or Human 2.0. We are getting closer to having augmented human intelligence because of new brain-computer interfaces. But not all human enhancement technologies provide us “superpowers.”
There will be three ways that people will be able to be augmented shortly.
1) Replicating
It might be the most important category is replicating, but there are a lot of them. We now have technologies that can help us replace some of the parts of our bodies that aren’t working as well as they should.
The finger prosthetics company Naked Prosthetics is a good example of a tech company that has had a big impact on the market. It makes finger prosthetics for anyone who has had an accident or lost a finger.
Naked Prosthetics is one of the most important companies when it comes to combining technological materials and human health. Not to mention the reason for the business, which draws a lot of people who want to help people change their lives.
2) Supplementing
This is what supplementing is all about. It is a way to add more power to someone’s abilities. This could be anything from hearing aids to things that can help us improve our vocabulary.
Smart glasses that show holograms of people and places that are far away could be very cool. Google already owns it.
3) Exceeding
In the human augmentation market, the biggest problem came when they tried to make products that went above and beyond what humans could do. In this way, some companies let us be heroes who will never be born.
See what Elon Musk’s Neuralink is doing to push the boundaries of human-computer interaction. In addition, this isn’t the whole picture. Many organizations are working on other tools that can change the way people think about their abilities.
Human Augmentation can be used in real-life situations
Super Glove
There are many different ways that technology can be used to help people do better things. It’s fun to show how you can use more power with your hands. One example is RoboGlove, which was made by General Motors. This glove gives the wearer more power. They can also get feedback from sensors on the glove’s fingers about what they sense.
Glove: GM wants to use the glove in their factories to make things. But, the glove isn’t new. There was a Robonaut project that the team worked on with NASA. As of 2011, the Robonaut has been in use on the International Space Station.
Smart Glasses And Contact Lenses
The vision industry is still getting a lot of help from new technology. It also makes the world easier for people who can’t see. Start-up Envision makes software for people who are blind or visually impaired. It has object detection and video calling. When you use the software, you need to wear it.
In the beginning, this is for people who are blind or have poor vision, but it can also be used by businesses to help people. A factory, a stockroom, or any other place where people work can let them do their jobs. They will be able to see or hear what they need to know or do.
Wristband Buzz
NeoSensory has the Wristband Buzz for sale now. It makes noise into vibrations. After a while, your brain gets better at understanding vibrations. Firm: You now have a “new sense.” The company’s first goal is to help people with hearing problems who are deaf. Even though one might be able to change the input to detect a lot of different things.
Naked Prosthetics
Naked Prosthetics is a company that makes fake prosthetics. It makes long-lasting and unique prosthetics. These are for folks who have lost their fingertips. The company’s goal is to improve the lives of people who have lost their fingers. It gives them finger prostheses that are both useful and functional.
Skylight
It is an Upskill platform that has teamed up with Google. It also makes smart glasses for people who work with planes. It helps to tighten B-nuts, which are an important part of jet engines. Glasses help with this. This is important because it could cause the engine to break down.
When a worker tightens a B-nut, the glasses help you see it. As an example, it connects a torque wrench with WiFi to make sure that a B-nut is screwed in the right way.
Teslasuit
The Teslasuit is a human-to-computer interface. It uses wearable haptic technology to make it look like the user is having a real experience and to help them learn. The suit can also control the wearer’s temperature, give them a sense of touch, and track their movements. This technology, even though it is used for VR immersion, can be easily linked to human augmentation technology because of the way it was thought of when it was made.
Hololens
It’s an untethered mixed reality device with apps and solutions that make it easier for people to work together. Furthermore, the user can see and move objects in holographic form with this device. Video games, employee training, and 3D computer-aided design and collaboration are just a few of the industrial and commercial uses of 3D computer graphics.
Neuralink
Elon Musk is working on a project called “Neuralink.” This is another one of his projects. Firm: A neurotechnology company whose main goal is to make a brain-computer interface (BCI). To be able to communicate with computers on the level of the brain, the project needs to be done well. However, even though this project hasn’t even started yet, there’s still hope for making it a real thing.
The eSight is a device that you can wear. It looks like glasses and lets people who are blind see what is around them. The device also has front-facing cameras that take pictures of the world in a close-up way. It then shows this information on a screen in front of the user’s eyes.
Bioprinting
Bioprinting is when you use 3D printing to make organic tissues. Many parts of the body are made up of organs, bones, skin, etc.
I think this technology is just beginning. But, it could change the medical industry and how we think about health care in general.
Zapata Flyboard Air
It is a hoverboard that moves with turbojet engines. They stand on top of the hoverboard like they would stand on a skate board or a surfboard. Also, the board can move at speeds of up to 140 kilometers per hour when it’s in the sky. In the past, technology has been very pricey.
SolarEar
In this case, the company is called SolarEar. It makes very cheap hearing aids. They are also solar-powered and environmentally friendly, so they can be used all year long. It lets people who are hard of hearing or almost deaf get cheap hearing aids.
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