When Technology Becomes Your Superpower: The Revolution That's Making Everyone a Hero

What if the thing that makes you different becomes your greatest strength? In a world obsessed with fitting in, technology is rewriting the rules transforming what we once saw as limitations into superpowers.

While debates rage about AI taking over jobs, a quieter revolution is unfolding where innovation doesn't replace human potential but unleashes it in ways that seemed impossible just decades ago. The question isn't whether technology will change us, but how we'll harness it to become the heroes of our own stories.

From Science Fiction to Daily Life 

Revolutionary breakthroughs are happening fast: cochlear implants are now the most successful neural prosthesis in history, brain-computer interfaces let people with ALS speak within minutes, and researchers have restored natural speech to those with severe paralysis overcoming a challenge once thought impossible. 

Assistive technology enables people to live healthy, productive, independent, and dignified lives. It opens doors to education, the labour market, and civic participation (WHO, 2024).  

When Superpowers Become Reality 

Tilly Lockey’s journey, shared at Innovation Summit 2025, is a powerful reminder that assistive technology isn’t just about function, it’s about identity. After losing her hands to meningitis as a toddler, her first prosthetic arrived in a brown paper bag “to look more normal and get less stares.”  

Today, she’s an Active Ambassador and Co-developer of the Hero Arm, advocating for bionic technology that empowers people to feel like superheroes rather than patients. 

The Hero Arm is developed by Open Bionics, a company turning science‑fiction concepts into accessible medical devices. Known for their customisable, 3D‑printed bionic arms, they focus on designs that embrace difference rather than hide it. 

At Innovation Summit 2023, Enzo Romero, General Manager at LAT Bionics, told a different but equally powerful story. Born without his right hand, he dreamed of having a prosthetic “like Luke Skywalker.”  That dream became Lat Bionics, a company creating affordable, custom bionic prostheses in Peru.

What started as personal necessity is now a mission: 80 users already wear Lat Bionics devices, with 300 more on the waiting list. “We don’t need to wait for developed countries to sell their technologies in our region at prices we cannot afford,” Enzo emphasized. “We have the capacity to develop our own technology.” 

From Billions in Need to Billions Empowered 

Today, over 2.5 billion people need at least one assistive product - a number set to reach 3.5 billion by 2050 (WHO, 2024). The shift is profound: from helping people cope with limitations to unlocking capabilities that were never possible before. 

Modern assistive technology doesn’t aim to make people “normal”, it makes them extraordinary, with designs that spark curiosity and inspire possibility. Tilly’s bionic arms don't hide her difference; they celebrate it with LED lights and customizable designs that make children ask where they can get their own "robot arms." 

Building a Future Without Limits 

As Tilly Lockey put it best: “Technology is not going to ruin our world. It’s definitely going to accelerate it... We’re not heading towards inevitable dystopia. We’re heading towards inevitable change. But within that we have a choice.” 

The companies driving this change, from Open Bionics to Lat Bionics, share a powerful philosophy: ask people what they want, not what you think they need. That’s how technology evolves from simply restoring function to unlocking entirely new possibilities. The heroes of tomorrow won’t just be born with superpowers; they’ll be empowered by the technology we choose to create today. 

Sources

1. WHO (2024). Assistive technology 

2. UC Davis Health (2025). First-of-its-kind technology helps man with ALS ‘speak’ in real time 

3. Nature Journal (2023) - A high-performance speech neuroprosthesis 

4. Innovation Summit 2025 - Tilly Lockey, Active Ambassador and Co-developer of the Hero Arm, Influencer. Conference presentation and interview footage.  

5. Innovation Summit 2023 - Enzo Romero, General Manager at LAT Bionics. Conference presentation and interview footage.