How would you imagine the future of the human race? Science fiction often presents scenarios of an exceptionally evolved and highly technological mankind. Thanks to human–robotic interfaces, bionic body parts, and cutting-edge medicine, humans of the future are imagined to be capable of easily recovering from very severe injuries.This scenario is still far from being every-day reality but new technologies enabling increasingly sophisticated human enhancement are emerging. The definition of human enhancement encompasses any natural, artificial, or technological alteration of the human body to enhance physical or mental capabilities. Biomedical science is assisting the development of several new tools that allow more refined human–robotic interfaces. The vision of merging human and machine, typical of the transhumanist philosophy, is currently supported by an increasing number of tangible examples.In a recent announcement, Elon Musk revealed that Neuralink, one of his start-up companies, is working to create a brain–machine interface, a wireless implantable device to achieve symbiosis with artificial intelligence (AI). The short-term applications of the device aim at treating Parkinson’s disease, but Musk’s long-term aspiration goes beyond that: in his opinion, the device will allow humans to keep up with AI. This possibility is surely shaking public opinion, fuelling the growing ethical debate regarding at least some forms of human augmentation. Nevertheless, the use of technology to improve human health has several advantages. Indeed, it is currently helping people reach a better quality of life, especially in the fields of prosthetics. Thanks to 3D printing and new materials, artificial hands and legs are now more comfortable and aesthetically pleasing, but these are not the only achievements.A new fibre, described by the group of Polina Anikeeva at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Cambridge, MA, USA) in Science on July 12, 2019, could be incorporated in prosthetic limbs—normally heavy and difficult to control—to improve their performance and comfort. Acting as artificial muscle, the fibre could serve as actuator of prosthetic limbs, conferring low weight and fast response times. Helping lower limb amputees walk more easily is a complex task, and the CYBERLEGs Plus Plus (CYBERnetic LowEr-Limb CoGnitive Ortho-prosthesiS Plus Plus) project, coordinated by Nicola Vitiello at the BioRobotics Institute of Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna (Pisa, Italy), is developing new-generation robotic exoskeletons to achieve this goal. Consisting of a robotic leg and a brace around the body, these exoskeletons use sensors connected to two motors to predict and anticipate movement, allowing amputees to walk and climb stairs with reduced effort and preventing them from falling.Being able to walk again is a primary goal for lower limb amputees, whereas those who have lost their upper limbs mainly aspire to recover their ability to grasp and their tactile sensing. Functioning of bionic hand prostheses normally relies on the presence of two bipolar electrodes placed over the skin on the flexor and extensor muscles of the residual limb, allowing the amputee’s hand to open or close. This movement is quite unrefined, and efforts have been made to allow the simultaneous control of two degrees of freedom, as shown in work by Janne M Hahne and colleagues at University Medical Center Göttingen (Göttingen, Germany), published last year in Science Robotics. But technology has advanced further and the ongoing European Dexterous Transradial Osseointegrated Prosthesis with neural control and sensory feedback (DeTOP) project has recently led to the development of a new implant system. This device has electrodes connected directly to the nerves and muscles and wired to a robotic hand that can be finely controlled and that is able to provide tactile sensations. The Swedish partners of this project, Integrum AB and Chalmers University of Technology, had already shown that achieving these results was possible for above-elbow amputees. Below-elbow amputations, instead, represented a greater challenge, because of innervation of two small bones instead of a single large one. As described in February on the DeTOP project website, a Swedish patient was the first ever below-elbow amputee to successfully receive this titanium implant, and an Italian and a Swedish patient will be the next to receive this implant surgery.Other groups are working towards next-generation bionic hands and the research coordinated by Silvestro Micera from École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (Lausanne, Switzerland) and BioRobotics Institute developed a device capable of providing proprioceptive and tactile sensations via intraneural stimulation. As described in an article published in Science Robotics on Feb 20, 2019, this technique enabled two amputees to regain high proprioceptive acuity, similar to that of healthy individuals. These advances are already helping people, and, with the continuous advancement of technology, we can expect a bright future for prosthetics, in which sensing will be further refined. Researchers are currently working on different ways to achieve sensing with electronics integrated into flexible materials. In May, Subramanian Sundaram’s group at Massachusetts Institute of Technology described in Nature how deep learning has allowed the development of a low-cost tactile glove capable of identifying objects, estimating the weight of unknown objects, and distinguishing different hand poses. Such a technology, if adequately developed, could be incorporated into active prostheses and robotic hands.We are living in exciting times and can expect a future in which human–robotic interfaces will become increasingly accessible, enabling people to live an increasingly healthy, high-quality life. EBioMedicine welcomes biomedical and bioengineering research on new materials, technologies, and prosthetics that can contribute to progress towards a better future.