The global market for Human Augmentation is projected to reach US$22.4 billion by the year 2027, trailing a post COVID-19 CAGR of 26.8% over the analysis period 2020 through 2027. Emerging from the realms of sci-fi movies is human augmentation, a technology concept with the potential to take human intelligence to the next level. Genetics, nanotechnology & robotics are converging to deliver on the promise of human augmentation. The idea bets on latest technologies such as artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things for considerably improving human productivity and intelligence by boosting physical and cognitive capabilities. The concept of human augmentation has long been compelling the scientific and medical communities to use sophisticated technology for augmenting bodies, including exploitation of human genes for curing conditions such as blindness or fighting viruses. In the recent years, the scope of human augmentation has extended beyond medical R&D to new technologies, smart devices and the Internet of Things. Human Augmentation is defined as the technology designed to increase human productivity and improve the capabilities of the human body or mind. The technology aims at enhancing the cognitive and physical capabilities to improve human experience. Human augmentation comprises prosthetic engineering to compensate or rebuild the original function of limbs which has been lost due to accidents and other causes. It can also include technologies designed to further improve the inherent human abilities. The capabilities include improving the sensory capabilities such as Google glasses for viewing augmented visual content, advanced cochlear implants aimed at auditory sensing and processing, prosthetics that improve muscle capability.

True human augmentation encompasses drastic physical and cognitive improvements as well as helping individuals with diseases or disabilities. The approach focuses on ending physical disabilities and preventing injuries. Recent advances in prosthetics and bionics are offering hope for people with disabilities. The concept also focuses on embedding wearable devices into the human body. Some of the encouraging developments in this direction include projects including Google Glass that can perform more than simple biometric information. In addition to improving senses like feeling, hearing and smelling, these wearable devices are anticipated to direct release of specific chemicals and a number of other enhancements. The technology is expected to overlay the cognitive capability with real-time data. Projects such as Neuralink are focused on mental augmentation, and making efforts to develop a brain-computer interface for enabling people to interact with computers on the neural level. These developments are likely to allow human augmentation and drastically change routine activities and lives. Over the years, advancements made in terms of sensing and actuation have added significantly to the evolution of human augmentation. In recent times, the evolution and penetration of digital technologies, such as Artificial intelligence, 5G, and IoT, lay the foundation for advanced human augmentation which marks significant jump from conventional augmentation technologies. Human augmentation holds numerous existing and potential applications, with some of the initial applications targeting replacement of a lost body parts with artificial parts such as prosthetic limbs.

Starting from efforts to improve physical capabilities, human augmentation gained noteworthy boost from advanced in microelectronics that allowed new applications such as cognitive and sensing improvements. Compact electronic devices can assist people in specific tasks like hearing aids for individuals with auditory issues and augmented reality glasses for enabling object recognition and navigation support. Electronic devices for augmented human systems generally focus on daily routines and tasks using various communication technologies. On the other hand, sophisticated wearable devices supported by IoT allow high-end applications for physical augmentation, mental assistance and advanced sensing. The concept of human augmentation covers various dimensions such as from mental to the physical domain related to specific function or technology. The former area focuses on various components like a brain implant intended for memory to improve mental and physical ability. The mental to physical aspect regarding technology covers teaching techniques like mental imaging or neural-linguistic programming. Some of the commonly physical technologies are implants, surgery and chemicals. The direct to indirect aspect of human augmentation is related to sculpting of body parts through intense exercise or surgery. While direct practices involving surgery can change shape directly, indirect practices like intense exercise can improve strength, speed, shape and sense. The human augmentation pipeline covers various technologies including prosthetics, bionics, neurotechnology, nootropics, brain-computer interfaces and gene editing. Some of the body modification technologies that are poised to garner attention are exoskeletons, RFID chips, augmented vision, real-time language translation, smart contact lenses, 3D-printed body parts, smart drugs, brain-computer interfaces, enhanced sexual organs and designer babies.