A Look at Kevin Warwick, The World’s First Cyborg

When we think of the future of our world, many of us think of robots living in unison with people. And the people of the future will be more technically adept and futuristic than now and will likely have numerous technological advancements implemented into their bodies or brains. But would you believe if I said that things like this have already been happening for almost 20 years? Well, it’s true. Here I will take a look at Kevin Warwick, who is known as the world’s first cyborg, and his work and research.

Warwick is a British man who is an expert in the fields of engineering, artificial intelligence, robotics and more. He has been working in these fields for a number of years and had a number of awards and honors for his great research. But his most famous and noteworthy piece of research was his set of experiments that are widely known as Project Cyborg.

(source: telegraph.co.uk)

The first stage of this research took place all the way back in August of 1998 in which a simple RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) chip was implanted into Warwick’s skin. This chip was used so he could control lights, doors and other computer controlled technology based only on his proximity. Think of it like you use a key card to swipe in at work or how your key just has to be with you in a push-to-start vehicle. This was the first time anyone had done something like this and as a result, people were very intrigued and he became known as the world’s first cyborg.

The stages progressed and soon his nervous system was connected to the internet and his wife eventually got a similar implant in her body that he did. Since the breakthrough of the Warwicks, hundreds and thousands of body hackers have followed in their footsteps to try and test the limits of the human body and what we are capable of. If this type of body hacking continues to grow and grow, look for Warwick to be the one credited with beginning this movement all the way back in 1998.