A new sports competition was held in Zurich earlier this month, when severely disabled athletes competed as ‘cyborg’ teams using the latest robotic aids and equipment.

The Cybathlon featured prosthetic arms, electric wheelchairs, robot exo-skeletons and brainwave-reading devices.

There are plans to hold the event in the UK in 2018. Of the 65 teams participating, Team Imperial — from Imperial College London — was the biggest.

Its leader, Professor Aldo Faisal, said: “This event enabled a whole new group of patients who are paralysed — including some who cannot even move their fingers or breathe on their own — to participate.”

The games involved not just racetracks and circuits, but also everyday tasks such as laying the table and playing video games.

“The Paralympics is a simulation of the Olympics — who runs faster, who swims quicker, who jumps higher. The Cybathlon is more about enabling people to live what resembles daily life, things they cannot otherwise do.”

The idea for the games came from Robert Riener, a rehabilitation engineer at ETH University in Zurich.

He said: “The technology we have today is not acceptable; wheelchairs are bulky, prosthetic arms are too simple, and exo-skeletons are bulky. With Cybathlon, we can improve the technology and make it entertaining at the same time.”