World’s first ‘cyborg Olympics’ to be hosted in Switzerland

Disabled athletes equipped with bionic technology are set to battle it out at the inaugural Cyborg Olympics in Switzerland.

The “Cybathlon”, also known as the Cyborg Olympics, will take place in Zurich next week, Engadget reports.

Unlike traditional Olympic and Paralympic events, athletes will be able to use cutting-edge technology when competing.

Competitors, dubbed “pilots”, will battle it out in a series of events aimed to replicate real-life tasks, like slicing bread, using robotic devices controlled by their minds, or remote controls.

“It takes away the disability, and allows us to be competitive athletes,” one competitor told Engadget.

Organiser Robert Reiner, from Swiss University ETH Zurich, hopes the event will spawn a tie-in event at the Tokyo Olympics in 2020.

The Cybathalon will be streamed online by Engadget, and begins on September 13.