Cyborg

A Cyborg (サイボーグ), short for "cybernetic organism", is an individual who has been mechanically modified in order to achieve enhanced performance or compensate for compromised or lost body parts. They primarily belong to the Science side and presumably only Academy City has enough technology to properly produce them.

Principles
A cyborg is an individual who has had their body partially or wholly replaced with mechanical parts. The exact definition and extent varies, from artificial organs to full body mechanization, but in Academy City, a cyborg is specifically defined as someone who had the necessary parts all contained within their body - for example, optical fiber nerves might make someone a cyborg, but heavy metal claws would not.

Cyborg technology is used for both medical reasons, such as performing the functions of damaged or lost body parts,   and for combat purposes, such as enhancing one's abilities and weaponry,  with different variants for the technology designed for specific purposes.

Since a cyborg's key mechanical parts are often delicate, precision equipment and are constantly running, they require periodic servicing, with lifespans of about 3 or 5 years at most. In the case of artificial organs, this entails major surgery in order to switch out the old parts for new ones. As most cybernetics are electronic in nature, cyborgs with them are susceptible to electrical esper abilities.

With cyborgs, particularly medical ones, if the mechanical components supporting the biological components cease to function, it can adversely affect and potentially endanger them. Additionally, their mechanical capabilities may increase the potential for accidentally inflicting harm to themselves. As such, cyborgs may be equipped with limiters and safeties which prevent actions which would damage their bodies beyond a certain level.

Cyborg bodies can also have an effect with regards to esper abilities. A prominent example of this is Kuroyoru Umidori's use of additional mechanical arms to provide additional output points for her Bomber Lance (providing the parts are properly connected), which would otherwise be restricted to the two palms of her normal hands. In her case, the extent of what counts as her body is rather vague, and she has exploited this in conjunction with the rejection reaction experienced by an esper when they use magic, completely thinking of objects connected to her body via her mechanical limbs as part of her body and then forcing the side-effect onto the targets to destroy them (together with her arms). In the case of Rensa, the cyborg's controllable bodily characteristics were used to provide output points for the abilities of other espers, allowing her to switch between and use the powers of the top six Level 5s as well as any espers within a 200m radius. One of Kuriba Ryouko's previous assignments was a project involving the use of stimulation caused by cyborg replacement of the body for the development of abilities which could not be produced by a regular human body.

There are a number of projects and experiments which have their roots in cyborg research, including the Total Human Cyborg Replacement Project, which aside from testing technology also had the hidden objective of observing the creation of a soul, and Anatomy Mechatronics, intended to make perfect models of individuals' bodies (such as the Level 5s) using technology.

There are a number of suppressants used to counteract the rejection reaction from flesh towards the machinery bonded to it, and drugs for dealing with the after-effects of cyborg treatments, such as Miahilin.

According to Kuroyoru Umidori, people who wish to be cyborgs often have a defect or perceived inferiority which they wish to overcome (in her case, the limit of only having two arms and thus two palms to use with her ability), and one can get an idea of it from the cyborg treatment they chose to receive - be it defeating an illness, raising their physical abilities, or correcting their appearance. She referred to this with the term cyborg therapy (サイボーグセラピー).

Comparisons have been made between cyborgs and powered suits,  and it has been said that once a powered suit goes past a certain point (such as with the suits used by Silvercross Alpha), it becomes much the same as a cyborg, and vice versa, with the difference being whether the body is reinforced from without or within.

While cyborgs are primarily restricted to the Science Side and Academy City, there are a few individuals elsewhere who are referred to as cyborgs but were made through non-scientific means, such as Salome of the Kamisato Faction.

Background
At one point, there was apparently a ban on certain forms of cyborg development in Academy City, though this was recently lifted.

A year before the current year, an extreme cyborg experiment was initiated - the Total Human Cyborg Replacement Project. The test subject was cyborg researcher Kuriba Ryouko, who was working to develop a cyborg treatment for her ill mother. With little time left and a lack of data for the many required parts, given the limited number of cyborg treatments, she volunteered for the experiment in order to gather the data for the required cybernetics in time to save her mother. In the experiment, her body was cut up into pieces and the separated human parts combined with mechanical parts to produce two cyborgs. The two lived separately for a year, with extensive data being collected from their bodies and cybernetics. As a cyborg researcher herself, Kuriba was able to act as both subject and observer. After a year had passed, she was combined back into one person, with the mechanical parts removed.

DRAGON Arc
Shiokishi referenced to cyborgs and their downsides (mainly the need for maintenance every few years and surgery for dealing with the artificial organs), when talking about his choice of a Powered Suit.

Freshmen Arc
A prominent member of the Freshmen, responsible for the events which occurred on November 5th, was the cyborg Kuroyoru Umidori, whose robotic arms were meant to support her ability.

Agitate Halation Arc
Rensa, a cyborg developed to counter the Level 5s if they rebelled against Academy City, played a prominent role in the events surrounding the Agitate Halation Project.

Salome Arc
Salome, Kamisato Kakeru's non-blood sister and a member of the Kamisato Kakeru, was noted to have abandoned her original body for a stronger one using a self-made chemical cyborg treatment, in order to drastically raise her abilities in conjunction with her sacrificial magic, Internal Offering and External Offering.

Dream Ranker Arc
The distribution of Indian Poker in September and early October was a result of Kuriba Ryouko trying to find a solution to the problem posed by her mechanical doppelganger, created as a result of the cyborg experiment she participated in. At the same time, she was also working on the cybernetics needed to save her mother. After being accidentally shot during the events at the time of the doppelganger's termination, its parts were used to save her life.

Toaru Kagaku no Dark Matter
Kihara Souji was noted to have started his career in medical science and the development of cyborg technology, specifically mechanical prostheses. During the events surrounding Yuzuriha Ringo and SCHOOL, he replaced at least one DA agent's lost arms with his prosthetic limbs, and after his death, Kuroyoru Umidori took his data and existing prostheses for her own use.

Toaru Jihanki no Fanfare
As a result of injuries from a past experiment, Kihara Nayuta has medical-purpose cybernetics making up over 70% of her body.

Toaru Majutsu no Index: Shokuhou Misaki Figurine
During Shokuhou Misaki's encounter with the Anatomy Mechatronics Misaki, it was noted that the project had branched off from cyborg research.

Souyaku Toaru Majutsu no Index SS
While facing Hikarizawa Megumi, who was connected to a life support system made up of large medical devices, Kuroyoru Umidori compared them to artificial organs too big to fit inside her and the methodology to Shiokishi's previous attempt in the form of a Powered Suit, remarking that the system was two generations out of date compared to the more compact technology making up a cyborg.

Trivia

 * In the afterword of , Kamachi Kazuma pointed out that it was Narita Ryohgo (of Bacanno! and Durarara!! fame) who introduced the concept of cyborgs into the universe and thus decided to use the concept as a tool in the main series.
 * Kamachi also contrasted the two main antagonists in the volume; one of them being a cyborg that altered her outer silhouette, rearranging the inside of her body in order to increase the proficiency of her ability, and the other one using a "powered suit" that altered the outside of the body, and optimized the inner workings of his mind.
 * While the Freshmen cyborgs were modified for military purpose and meant for battle, the first cyborg created by Narita was modified for medical purposes, with her enhancement not meant to boost her combat ability.