The trick is a single implanted power source and a distributed system of controllers that will manage several different physical functions.

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If we interpret the scenario as a threat, powerful stress chemicals are released into our system that shut down some mental and physical functions, while igniting others.

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But, increasingly, the development work on robots is designed either to assist the old with physical functions such as bathing or lifting things, or to monitor health and well-being.

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There's no denying physical functions decline with age.

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Baseball players, race car drivers, skiers and lawyers all experience the same loss of a competitive edge when their physical functions decline to where they can no longer compete at the level necessary to compete and win at their peak.

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And without privacy, sharing a single shower, many of the men had lost their sense of the normal social barriers - they were around each other continuously, using the toilets, speaking to loved ones on the phone, and, presumably, indulging in other physical functions.

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The ideal solution, then, would involve car-makers hard-wiring the necessary controls for the top 20 percent of functions into physical buttons and knobs.

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With Skylanders Swap Force introducing figures with physical as well as electronic functions it will be interesting to see if this changes the play hierarchy in our family.

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Among many other things, a smartphone functions as a handheld digital sensor for the physical world.

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