Cybathlon: World’s first ever Bionic Olympics to happen in 2016
Expect mind-racing, exoskeletons, and bionic limbs at the future's greatest sporting event
As much as we like the Olympics, we’ve always wanted to see what would happen if we ditched all the regulations and let people go the extra mile to push natural records to the limit. And no, we’re not talking about steroids.
Bionic enhancements already exist in the real world – exoskeletons can already allow the mobility impaired to walk – so it makes perfect sense to create a host of games around them.
Hell, if we live in a world where hotdog competitions exist, then anything’s possible, right?
Luckily for us, our dreams of a bionic-fueled Olympics will be coming true.
Called the Cybathlon, the Olympics for bionic athletes is slated to take place in the welcoming neutrality of Switzerland, hosted by the Swiss National Competence Center of Research in 2016.
This high-tech sporting event will take human abilities to the edge and beyond, as it’s an area where tech assistive devices are not only allowed, they’re also encouraged.
The entire event will hopefully look like a scene straight out of a sci-fi movie, hopefully minus the explosions and enslaving of the entire human race.
Aside from the usual mechanical appendages like bionic body parts and exoskeletons on show, you can expect a show of mental prowess as well in the form of a brain-computer interface race, during which paralysed participants control avatars in racing games. Yes, just like Avatar.
As for how the credit is divided, there will be two medals for each competition: one for the person competing and another for the company behind the assistive devices used. Fair play.
When they kick off, the games could be the first Olympics we actually watch from beginning to end.
Jetpack 100m, here we come…
[BBC]
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