So the event will be less of a celebration of feats of strength and endurance than the actual Olympics, and instead focus on how these technologies can be used in the real world. A prosthetic leg race will test, among other things, the pilot’s ability to sit down and stand up. Part of the prosthetic arm event will be a race to hang out laundry. And one event won’t even feature any movement whatsoever, because the brain–computer interface competition will see pilots guiding a video game character using only their thoughts.
The event would have been impossible a few years ago. But recently these technologies have matured. Last year, doctors successfully bridged a man’s spinal injury with electronics, allowing signals from his brain to be re-routed via computer, ultimately moving his arm. A robotic exoskeleton made by SuitX may cost $40,000, but it can help disabled people to walk. And a robotic hand can even provide sensory feedback todiscern between textures, such as ball bearings and sandpaper.