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158 Modern Robotics

Warwick concluded his Guardian letter by saying that he was
eager to see what a future as a cyborg might hold. A number of
daunting obstacles would first have to be addressed.

Cyborg 2.0: The Neural Implant Project

The radio implant that Warwick called “Cyborg 1.0” involved
a simple operation with no real risks except perhaps infection.
“Cyborg 2.0,” however, would be a much more radical procedure.
It involved exposing the central nerve in Warwick’s arm and driv-
ing into it an array containing 100 individual electrodes, each a few
millimeters in diameter.
If it worked, Warwick and other researchers would be able to
amplify and monitor up to 20 separate neural signals at a time.
Electrical impulses could also be fired into the implant to create
nerve signals that might, for example, flex Warwick’s thumb.
The proposed procedure had never been done before, and because
the implant penetrated the nerve, it could cause damage—possibly
permanent damage. Warwick therefore had to go through an elabo-
rate procedure to obtain approval from a hospital ethics board, as
well as deal with issues of legal liability. On top of that, the elec-
trode array the researchers wanted to use was still in development.
Warwick decided that he could not tell the manufacturer, Bionic
Tech, what he wanted the array for, lest the company refuse to sell
him one.
Finally, on March 14, 2002, Warwick went to the Radcliffe
Infirmary at Oxford. The surgeon, Peter Teddy, made an incision
about two inches (5 cm) up from Warwick’s left wrist. He then
probed for the median nerve, accidentally sending a sensation like
a large electric shock racing up Warwick’s arm. After finding the
nerve, the surgeon made another incision and threaded a plastic
tube called a bodger between the two incisions. (This would link
the neural implant with the place where the wires would emerge
from Warwick’s arm to a connector pad that Warwick called the
“gauntlet.”) After some difficulty, this was completed. The nerve
implant array was then fired . . . but it dropped rather than going
into the nerve. It turned out the compressed air hoses to the firing