enhanced Teams CYBATHLON

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SRF DOK:  Cybathlon 2020 - Ein weltumspannender Wettstreit herausragender Wissenschaftsteams. Es geht um Forschung für Menschen mit Behinderung. Arm- und Beinprothesen, robotische Assistenz-Systeme, Schnittstellen von Gehirn und Computer – und manches mehr. Technik, die dem Menschen dient, Technik, die Menschen hilft und sie zueinander führt. Der Dokumentarfilm beobachtet, wie sich Forscher und Betroffene auf diesen einzigartigen Wissenschaftswettbewerb vorbereiten, zeigt, was sie bewegt und wie das Ereignis im November 2020 rund um den Globus über die Bühne geht.

It took place for the first time on October 8th 2016 in Zurich Kloten, Switzerland. The competitions are comprised of six disciplines that test the ability of pilots to navigate a series of everyday tasks, while using assistive devices and robotic technology.

Ever since the initial event, CYBATHLON grew and held events all over the world. The CYBATHLON Experience events aim to demonstrate assistive technology to a broad public. Additionally CYBATHLON Series showcase a single discipline in a CYBATHLON race to drive worldwide scientific exchange.

Four years after the initial CYBATHLON, the main event was held again in 2020. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was held as a digital event. The teams from all over the world participated in the CYBATHLON Global Edition from their respective home countries in prerecorded races.

The ILT participates at CYBATHLON since the very first occurrence with the wheelchair team HSR enhanced. In 2019 we teamed up with the pdz (https://pdz.ethz.ch/) and RELab (https://relab.ethz.ch/) from ETH Zurich to form the Exoskeleton team VariLeg enhanced.

HSR enhanced

Our team HSR enhanced competes in the CYBATHLON discipline 'powered wheelchair race'. Under very tight time constraints, the team developed and built the wheelchair for the CYBATHLON 2016 in ten months. This was only possible with the early involvement of the pilot Florian Hauser and the commitment to develop the best interface between him and the race obstacles. The Wheelchair 'ZED' was born.

CYBATHLON 2016 turned out to be a huge success. HSR enhanced won against eleven teams from around the world in a thrilling event. Held in the packed hockey stadium in Zurich Kloten and broadcasted by Swiss live TV, we were able to reach a worldwide audience.

In the following years HSR enhanced didn't rest on its laurels. While updating the wheelchair to the ever-changing race rules, we participated in CYBATHLON Experiences in Switzerland, Germany and Japan. The next Highlight was the participation of the CYBATHLON Wheelchair Series 2019 in Kawasaki, Japan. With the improved wheelchair 'ZED evolution' Florian Hauser claimed gold for the team again. This was considered the most important event leading into the CYBATHLON main event in 2020 for the wheelchair teams.

HSR enhanced tried to use the time between the CYBATHLON Series and the main event to further improve the wheelchair. While the team was an underdog in 2016, in 2020 all eyes were on us. Florian Hauser once again outperformed himself and showed that he is able to perform excellently under pressure. This lead to another gold medal at the CYBATHLON 2020 Global Edition.

More information: www.hsr-enhanced.ch

VariLeg enhanced

VariLeg enhanced started as a Focus project with 15 students from ETH Zurich and OST – Eastern Switzerland University of Applied Sciences in the summer of 2018. The goal was to create a lightweight device for the CYBATHLON discipline 'powered exoskeleton race'. It was tailored to our two pilots Rolf Schoch and Thomas Krieg. After the one year project the exoskeleton was first shown in the roll out event at ETH Zurich.

The exoskeleton was then taken to Rapperswil. Here we started to work on race ready reliability. Meanwhile, the exoskeleton was shown at two CYBATHLON experiences. First Thomas Krieg presented it at Zurich Main Station. In November 2019 Rolf Schoch then showed his skills with the device on our own campus.

After this time followed a longer overhaul time. We improved the exoskeleton to be able to overcome all given CYBATHLON obstacles reliably. After an intensive training phase our pilots where eager to show their abilities to the world at CYBATHLON 2020 Global Edition. They performed outstandingly and achieved a very respectable 6th and 7th place, coming very close to some very experienced exoskeleton teams.

More information: www.varileg-enhanced.ch

Sponsors

Join us as a partner and become a part of HSR enhanced and VariLeg enhanced on these endeavors. Support the teams with high visibility for you and your company. A variety of sponsoring packages ensure you a worthwhile representation. Find more on our respective sponsoring sites or contact Silvia Rohner directly:
www.varileg-enhanced.ch/sponsors