E-Access Bulletin Live

Cutting bread, climbing stairs and unwrapping a sugar cube all feature as competitions in an event being dubbed the ‘world’s first bionic Olympics’, which will set out to show how advanced technologies can help people with disabilities in daily life.

Taking place in Kloten, Switzerland, on October 8, the Cybathlon championship features six types of contest, with disabled competitors using and controlling assistive devices and robotic technologies.

The events will test how these technologies allow users to complete day-to-day tasks. For example, in the ‘powered leg prosthesis race’, competitors (referred to as “pilots”, as they need to control or steer their technology) are timed using leg prosthetics to navigate stairs, slopes and uneven surfaces.

In the ‘powered arm prosthesis race’, competitors with an arm amputation and prosthetic must complete tasks such as: cutting and spreading jam on a slice of bread, carrying a tray of items to a table, opening a door and fitting a light bulb.

Cybathlon was created by Robert Riener, head of Health Sciences and Technology, and Professor of Sensory-Motor Systems at the ETH Zurich university in Switzerland. Riener told e-Access Bulletin that he was inspired to start the event when he decided through his daily work that “current assistive technologies are not functional enough and not accepted by many people.”

Further inspiration for Cybathlon came after Riener read a newspaper article about a man with a motorised knee prosthesis running up 103 floors of Chicago’s Willis Tower.

Explaining the concept behind Cybathlon, Riener said: “We want to promote the development of useful, acceptable, assistive devices for people with motor disabilities, and not just find the strongest and fastest person with a disability. That is why we have designed race tracks and obstacles that have a meaning for daily life.”

Competitors in Cybathlon are not professional athletes, and instead have to master the devices and technology they use in the events. “That is why we call them ‘pilots’,” said Riener.

The technologies used are largely specialist and highly advanced. Asked if it presents a problem that many disabled people can’t access or afford these technologies, Riener said: “It is normal that the newest high-tech is most expensive … However, we need new devices popping-up to shift previous ideas. High-tech will become used by a broader population and become cheaper, if it functions well. Furthermore, we urge politicians to give larger funding to high-tech devices for people with disabilities.”

A total of 74 athletes from 25 countries will take part in Cybathlon. Other contests include the ‘powered wheelchair race’, the ‘powered exoskeleton race’, the ‘functional electrical stimulation bike race’ (‘pilots’ with a spinal cord injury – SCI – pedal bikes by stimulating their muscles with electrodes), and the ‘brain-computer interface race’ (‘pilots’ with an SCI navigate computer game avatars purely through technology that reads their brain signals).

Find out more at the official Cybathlon site:
eab.li/2q .

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 29th, 2016 at 10:43 pm and is filed under Europe, Events, News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.