Peter Scott-Morgan: British scientist who became the world’s first full ‘cyborg’ dies aged 64

Tributes have been paid to a British scientist who became the world’s first full ‘cyborg’ after he died aged 64.

Dr Peter Scott-Morgan refused to accept his fate following a diagnosis of motor neurone disease in 2017.

He said he wanted to push the boundaries of what science can achieve so decided to extend his life and become fully robotic.

Peter, of Torquay, Devon, later said he had fully completed his transition into the world’s first full cyborg - called Peter 2.0.

‘A visionary thinker’

His family confirmed the news of his passing on his Twitter account on Wednesday.

“To Peter’s amazing rebel supporters: With a broken heart, I’m letting you all know that Peter passed peacefully surrounded by his family, and those closest to him,” they wrote.

“He was incredibly proud of all of you who supported him, and his vision of changing the way people see disability.”

Paying tribute to him the MND Assoc VIP Team posted on Twitter: “RIP Dr Peter Scott-Morgan, our former trustee and a visionary thinker.”

While the MND Association said: “We’re saddened to hear that our former trustee Dr Peter Scott-Morgan, has died. Peter inspired the MND Technology Think Tank and helped raise awareness via his Channel 4 documentary Peter: The Human Cyborg. Our thoughts are with Peter’s husband, Francis, his family and friends.”

Avatar of face designed to respond to AI body language

The world-renowned roboticist had to undergo a series of incredibly complex and risky operations during his journey.

This included developing a remarkably life-like avatar of his face before he lost any muscle.

The avatar was designed to respond using artificially intelligent body language and he has also explored eye-tracking technology to enable him to control multiple computers using only his eyes.

And the final procedure in his robot transition saw him successfully trade his voice for potentially decades of life.

He underwent a laryngectomy, meaning he lost his physical voice, but in doing so, he avoided the added danger of saliva potentially entering his lungs, due to his condition.