The two experts behind a new Channel 4 show about a 'bionic' man admit they were spooked by some of what they saw - including cyborgs made by the U.S. Army.

One presenter was perturbed by experiments where chips were inserted in the brains of living rats, to 'enhance' their memory.

The U.S. military's 'mad scientist' wing DARPA is developing humanoid robots which 'look like The Terminator', says the robot expert who makes a working hand for the programme.

Both experts say that a future where living flesh and computer chips become one will arrive "sooner" than we expect.

The expert duo both believe the billions spent researching and developing bionic technology is a force for good - but the technology have negative outcomes if created for the wrong reasons.

Show presenter Bertolt admits he was perturbed by experiments placing chips in the brains of rats to enhance their memory, : "What I took from the programme is that a future in which we have bionic technology that will go beyond evolutionary limits is more possible and will take place sooner than I believed.

"When it comes to fears about augmenting human capabilities above evolutional boundaries, I can understand these fears as I share them. Technological advances are neither good or bad it is the way we use them and make them available. There will be an issue if the proliferation is solely driven by business."

But he said: "As long as this technology is made to replace functionality that has been lost there is no reason to be afraid. It helps level out the negative consequences of disability, disease and illness."

Rich, the CEO of Shadow Robot, which helped build the $1m bionic man featured in the programme's title, agreed although he admitted work done by the American defence body DARPA had spooked him.

He said: "When you see the show there are one or two sequences of stuff being developed by DARPA which are actually really scary. Humanoid robots that look like something out of Terminator and those do worry me. Equally, I am heartened at the same time that DARPA has put a couple of hundred million dollars into the development of newer and better prosthetics."

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'Cyborg' fears of bionic man team