When your body becomes eligible for an upgrade

  We all like to joke about what might happen if robots, powered by artificial intelligence, decide they want to overthrow humans.

That scenario is, at best, decades away. But this week I’ve been pondering something much more immediate, and in my view, more likely. What will happen when humans decide to become robots?
"We’re at a key transition in human history,” says Prof Hugh Herr, who heads the Biomechatronics Group at the famed Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
He says the group’s aim is to establish the scientific and technological conditions that will eventually eliminate disability, whether through paralysis or amputation.
But that incredible goal has been achieved, then what?
"We’re fusing the nervous system with the built world,” he says.
"We’re transitioning from a relationship where we use technology that is separate from our nervous system, to a new epoch of integration, of human physiology."
Simulating ankles
Prof Herr is a double amputee. In 2012, I saw him move a room in London to tears when he revealed his incredibly sophisticated bionic legs that allowed him to move with natural poise and grace.
In 2014, Prof Herr’s technology meant Adrianne Haslet-Davis returned to the dancefloor, less than a year since losing a limb in the Boston marathon bombings. Her first performance after the incident brought a TED talk audience instantly to its feet.
I visited Prof Herr’s lab last week to learn more about the work is team is doing, and where it may lead. Right now, much of the research is focused on doing things the human body can do instinctively, but are extremely complex to engineer.

Roman Stolyarov, a researcher at the lab, demonstrated how they are using sensors similar to those found on self-driving cars to give prosthetic legs an awareness of what is around them.
This is important to make the leg behave differently when, for example, walking down stairs. The human brain, whether the person realises it or not, is able to instinctively prepare the leg for to land on a step. Teaching a prosthesis to do the same is the difference between having a bionic leg and, to put it crassly, a peg leg.
“The motor is able to work in such a way that simulates a real biological ankle joint,” Mr Stolyarov told me.
“The [leg] uses on-board sensors to infer whether the leg is in the air or on the ground, and perform actions that to the person feel much more like real walking than they would get from a passive prosthesis.”
The end result is that walking is considerably less tiring for amputees like Ryan Cannon, who lost his leg following complications after he broke it.
“I can move in a more rhythmic symmetrical way,” he told me.
"Being able to move in that manner allows me to walk at a faster pace for a longer distance and to do more activities during the day.”
Better, faster, stronger
But not all the work carried out here is about replacing limbs. It’s also looking at improving them.
One exoskeleton project reduces the physical exertion when walking by 25%, explained researcher Tyler Clites.
“What that means is, if you were to walk 100 miles, it would only feel to like you walked 75.
"We’re able to do that today. Those are devices I would expect to see rolling out commercially in the next several years.”
Beyond MIT, others are working on similar initiatives. US retail chain Lowes is piloting exoskeltons for staff, developed at Virginia Tech, that assist them with lifting at work.
“I definitely think that we are entering an age in which the line between biological systems and synthetic systems is going to be very much blurred,” Mr Clites said.