Performance Enhancing Drugs may not be fair, but the same can be said of genetics. You can train as hard as you want, but it’s unlikely you’ll ever run as fast as Usain Bolt (unless you are a sheep). Trying to counteract Mother Nature’s clear favoritism, a sporting competition using technology as an equalizer is planned to run concurrent to the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, which hopes to have its own robotics angle. From Keiko Sato at Asahi Shimbun:

In a bid to level the playing field of the future, a group of researchers are creating sports that can be contested by anyone with the assistance of robotics and high-tech assistive technologies.

That will allow the young and old, disabled and able-bodied, and professional and amateur alike to compete on an equal footing.

“In line with the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, we want to hold a ‘superhuman’ sporting event,” said Masahiko Inami, professor of human enhancement at Keio University Graduate School, at the inaugural meeting of the Superhuman Sports Committee in October, which was held 50 years after the 1964 Tokyo Olympics.

The group had been developing a plan for the creation of the committee since September 2013, when Tokyo was selected to host the 2020 Games.

Consisting of about 40 members including robotics researchers, prosthetic leg engineers, former professional athletes and game designers, the group aims to create new events, synthesizing various areas of expertise.

Using advanced assistive devices and robotic technologies, even children or those who are not adept at sports can acquire a “superhuman ability” and compete with superior athletes and adults.

But it is not interesting if technology alone determines the outcome, Inami said.

“It is important to create balanced rules so participants can compete using their own strength and sweat to a certain extent,” he said.•