What is it about?
This study maps the global research landscape of human augmentation by analyzing 6,284 papers on technologies such as exoskeletons, wearable devices, augmented reality, and assistive systems. It examines how these technologies relate to well-being, quality of life, and sustainability, and introduces a new nine-dimensional framework to assess their value across individual, organizational, and societal levels.
Featured Image
Photo by Derek Lee on Unsplash
Why is it important?
Human augmentation is often discussed as a technical frontier, but much less attention is given to whether it actually improves people’s lives. This study helps shift the conversation from technological novelty to societal value. It shows where the field is already making meaningful connections to worker safety, social inclusion, learning, productivity, and sustainability, and it offers a practical way to assess those benefits more systematically.
Perspectives
This research argues that the real question is not only how advanced a technology is, but what kind of value it creates, for whom, and at what level. Our framework can help researchers, companies, and policymakers identify and prioritize human augmentation technologies that generate benefits for individuals, organizations, and society. It also opens a path for future work that combines academic evidence with patents, market data, and real-world implementation studies.
Yousif Elsamani
The University of Tokyo
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Mapping human augmentation technologies for societal impact: A multilevel framework for classification and innovation potential, PLOS One, February 2026, PLOS,
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0343292.
You can read the full text:
Contributors
The following have contributed to this page
