In the 70s, the idea seemed so far-fetched that it became a TV series, but the field of bionics, the integration of biology and technology, is gaining strength.

NewsCenter 5's Rhonda Mann reported Friday that a new prosthetic knee, developed using MIT research, is among those leading the way.

It was a hot summer day. John Warren, a scuba diving instructor, was filling an air tank when it exploded.

"I was standing within two feet of the tank and caught the majority of the fragments," Warren said.

His right leg was severed above the knee. His left leg was seriously injured. After being fitted with many prostheses, in February, Warren was one of the first to try a Rheo-Knee.

"Within those 60 steps the patient has to vary their speed a little bit, the knee starts learning how they move, how they walk, and at that point figures out how to adjust itself with the person," Warren said.

What makes the Rheo-Knee different is that it's the first to use artificial intelligence -- tiny sensors that analyze the knee 1,000 times per second allowing it to adjust to any step or misstep.

A car that drives itself has long been the stuff of science fiction.

But at Stanford University, you can find one going as fast as 40 mph on a dirt road in a sleepy part of the campus, and it goes by the name "Stanley."

"In the future, cars will drive themselves, no question," said Sebastian Thrun, a German-born computer scientist who is director of Stanford's artificial-intelligence laboratory and the man responsible for Stanley. As Thrun, 38, talked about the car last week, he was like a giddy schoolkid, particularly when he was hitching a ride with his robot car.
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What's new:
Like engineers at universities all over the country, a Stanford University team is still perfecting its driverless car in hopes of winning the Defense Advanced Research Projects' upcoming Grand Challenge, an unmanned race through the desert.

Bottom line:
"Stanley" can go as fast as 40 miles per hour, and in desert tests, it's managed to navigate for 25 miles before running into trouble. But this year's Grand Challenge involves a 175-mile course, so clearly the vehicle has a ways to go.

A gaggle of miniature robots are falling over themselves in a Japanese lab. But they are not malfunctioning: it is the way they have been designed to move.

The wheel-shaped robots, which are just 4 centimetres in diameter and 1 centimetre thick, were built by Shinichi Hirai and Yuuta Sugiyama at Ritsumeikan University in Kusatsu. The robots propel themselves along by continuously altering their shape.

Photovoltaic cells allow people to stay connected wherever they are.
Bags with their own solar panels will allow people to recharge mobile phones on the run, a conference on sustainable technology has heard.

Mobile phone covers, laptop cases and bags with photovoltaic cells will be available later this year, according to Len McKelvey, director of their Australian supplier, Air Water Australia.

The technology, which has been used by the Israeli military, was on show at last week's Enviro 04 conference.

Hitachi and Japanese ciggie lighter maker Tokai will ship a direct methanol fuel cell system for PDAs in 2005. And they have already built the prototype, the pair said this week.

Fighter pilots have long been able to view flight data projected onto jet windshields within their line of sight. Soon recreational motorcyclists and bicyclists will be able to take advantage of that technology.