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Society | DOI: 10.1145/3057738 Keith Kirkpatrick
Bionics in Competition
Developers of innovative assistive devices
compete as a means of networking with each other.
Meanwhile, the brain-computer
interface race provides a competition
for teams who have developed methods for using brain waves to control
avatars in a computer game, which is
analogous to brain waves ultimately
being used to control objects in the
real world. This type of control ultimately will be useful to those with partial or total paralysis.
The powered-arm prosthesis race
pits competitors against one another,
making them complete daily tasks such
as slicing bread or placing silverware on
a table using only their prosthetic arms,
as quickly and accurately as possible.
These fine-motor coordination tasks
are technically challenging for those
with limb loss or damage, and many of
the solutions highlighted in the competition could be further developed in the
future for use in the real world.
Unlike other sporting or robotics
competitions, the end goal goes beyond establishing a “winner.” According to Riener, the goals of Cybathlon
are to facilitate conversation between
academia and industry, to engender
discussion between technology developers and people with disabilities, and
to promote the use of robotic assistive
aids to the general public.
“A platform like Cybathlon allows
people to see what is the state of the
art and what is upcoming,” says David
Olympic-level feat.
That’s where Cybathlon, a new competition designed to promote innovative assistive devices, may accomplish
two goals: providing a competitive
forum for disabled athletes, and highlighting the specific advances that are
being made in robotic assistive aids
designed to help those with significant
physical disabilities.
Conceived and developed by Switzerland’s ETH Zurich (a science and
research university) and National Centre of Competence in Research (NCCR)
Robotics professor Robert Riener, the
first iteration of Cybathlon took place
last October in Zurich. During this international competition, 66 technical
teams (comprised of one pilot or operator, along with a number of researchers and scientists) from 25 countries
came together to compete in six different disciplines of events.
Each team consisted of at least
one technology provider, which was
a member of a research lab or a company, and at least one pilot, a person
with a specified level of disability that
is being managed by using technology developed by the team. The overall competition consisted of six so-called “disciplines,” each consisting
of tasks that must be completed in
the fastest time possible, and ahead
of all other teams.
While each team can compete in
any of the disciplines, which include
the brain-computer interface race; the
functional electrical stimulation bicycle race; the powered-arm prosthesis
race; the powered-leg prosthesis race;
the powered-exoskeleton race, and
the powered-wheelchair race, only
one pilot can participate per team
per discipline.
The disciplines are designed to
showcase the technology that can be
used to improve the lives of those liv-
ing with a disability, by creating spe-
cific challenges that mimic the ob-
stacles that are faced by such people
every day. “Compared to the Paralym-
pics, who are searching for the stron-
gest and fastest, we are searching for
those pilots who are most skilled to
use a device for daily life activities,”
Riener explains. “We do not consider
our event as a sport, though the par-
ticipants have to train, and they have
to perform well.”
For example, the powered-wheel-
chair race includes six hurdles, such as
entering a building with thresholds or
narrow doorways, or crossing uneven
pavement, that must be completed in
as little time as possible.
Silke Pan of Team Poly Walk EPFL in the
powered exoskeleton race.