Smart Industry 2/2018

Smart Lifestyle Bionics and IoT
Bionics and IoT
Man
Machines
Most people think of science fiction when they
hear the word “cyborg.” But we do not have
to take a trip to the movies to find examples of
human enhancements described here.
n By Rainer Claassen
Humans have been using tools
since the first homo sapiens
stepped down from their
trees and started walking.
One obvious reason is that frail human
beings aren’t up to many tasks,
so they need tools as an extension of
their own capabilities. Science fiction
authors have fantasized about this for
decades, and by creating characters
such as Robocop, Iron Man, or even
Darth Vader, writers have introduced
their ideas about superhuman capabilities
to the rest of us so that they are
embedded in the popular mindset.
But now, technology is pushing the
envelope, as tools themselves become
more intelligent and sensitive, so that
fantasy, thanks to advances in fields
such as IoT, is becoming reality.
Replacing the work of humans by that
of machines has been going on for
more than a century, but this has not
made people obsolete – not by a long
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