Cybernetics

“	They never let me compete in those weightlifting tournaments. Why not? The two hearts thing..."Unfair advantages," blah, blah, blah.	„
	~ Mauga and Zarya

Cybernetics is the interdisciplinary study of the structure of regulatory systems. The field involves the replacement and/or improvement of an organism's organic components with robotic ones.

Background

Regulations exist for cyborgs in regards to physical competitions (e.g. weightlifting), which some see as controversial.^[1]

History

Before the Omnic Crisis, cybernetics started to become popular because of their appearance and enhancements. Elaine Esat was one of the pioneers of cybernetics, creating both visible and invisible designs that had important functions for quality of life. Esat's inventions led the way for bio-integrated prosthetic limbs for people with disabilities, and life-saving devices for various medical conditions. Pacemakers, ocular implants, and brain tissue implants were all advancements of the time; even dementia and memory loss could be treated with the correct cybernetics.^[2]

Because Esat's work had been publicly funded, all patents were made globally available. This allowed cybernetics companies to spring up and further improve the technology; Ogundimu Synergies Inc. and the Omnica Corporation were two of the first. Initially, it seemed that no one company would dominate the field, but both corporations' experience with robotic limbs gave them an advantage to capitalize on.^[2]

Cybernetic technology advanced further after the Omnic Crisis.^[3]

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Notable Cyborgs

All characters listed have cybernetic enhancements that are permanently implanted into, or replace, the body parts referenced.

• Akande Ogundimu (various implants)
• Ana Amari (both eyes formerly replaced, right one now missing)
• Cole Cassidy (left arm)
• Vivian Chase (most of body)
• Findlay Docherty (right arm, bottom of both legs)
• Jamison Fawkes (right arm and leg, left index finger)
• Genji Shimada (most of body)
• Torbjörn Lindholm (left arm)
• Maugaloa Malosi (second heart, enhancements to natural heart)
• Olivia Colomar (various implants)
• Niran Pruksamanee (right arm, other various implants)
• Satya Vaswani (left arm)

Notes

Since Overwatch exists as a utopian future, it is important to the IP's story developers to make sure that prosthetics used are representative of the way technology has developed in-universe. Hazard was a key element of this process, with Angel Giuffria using him as a vehicle to explore the nature of the technology within the IP.^[3]

References