All systems go for the Cybathlon
More than 70 teams from 25 countries will compete in the Cybathlon tomorrow, Saturday 8 October. The competitors are gradually arriving in Zurich, armed with high-tech gadgets and full of energy and excitement. In addition to victory at the Cybathlon, all are hoping that the assistive technology will soon be further improved.
Technicians, developers, professors, physiotherapists and, of course, pilots – the teams competing at tomorrow’s Cybathlon are gradually making their way to Zurich. Even 12 hours on a plane can't dampen their spirits, although for many of the paraplegic participants, the journey in a wheelchair is both a physical and a logistical challenge. Their high-tech assistive devices follow in their luggage. They have a long wait after landing, but finally the teams emerge from the baggage hall into the Zurich Airport arrivals area, where they are greeted by volunteers and escorted to their hotel. A total of 74 volunteers have signed up for the transport service – and around 600 for the Cybathlon as a whole.
SOLD OUT! For anyone who has not been able to buy a ticket:
Whether you are a wheelchair user or not, come along with your family and friends to the Stadtsaal Schlefweg, directly next to the Stadium. We will organise a public showing of the Cybathlon there from 10:00 until the end of the event, where you can follow along live to a professional livestream. The public showing area is easily wheelchair accessible. In addition, you will be able to take part in the open access attractions outside the Stadium, including the PluSport exhibition on the evolution of assistive aids and the outdoor area "Let's F?tz" for young and old.
“This is my first time in Europe,” says Mark Clayton Daniel, pilot for Florida's IHMC team. He was an 18-year-old apprentice when he fell asleep at the wheel through exhaustion while driving home from work and veered off the road. His car rolled over seven times and he was thrown from the vehicle. He awoke in hospital, paralysed. Now, aged 29, he is a keen sportsman, once again super fit and raring to go for the competition. “He pushes himself to his limits, and then some more,” says Peter Neuhaus, IHMC project manager.
Daniel only took his first steps in an exoskeleton on 8 August this year, precisely two months before the Cybathlon. Since then, he has learned to move expertly – if still somewhat robotically due to the technology – as Neuhaus proudly shows in a video on his phone. To ensure the high-tech exoskeleton is good to go for Saturday’s Cybathlon, the IHMC team of scientists and students from the Institute for Human & Machine Cognition began to assemble the device as soon as they arrived at the hotel in Kloten. “The hotel room is our new lab,” jokes Neuhaus as his team lay out the individual components on the hotel bed. And they’ve also brought along plenty of accessories and replacement parts just in case.
Did the equipment survive the journey unharmed?
The EMA team from Brazil also set to work building their bike in pilot Estev?o Carvalho Lopes’ room as soon as they arrived. They wanted to make sure that it had not been damaged during the trip. Lopes has been confined to a wheelchair since 2011, when he was shot on the street as a bystander in a gun fight between drug dealers. But the lawyer and fitness trainer is determined that it will not stop him from doing what he wants to do. “I've already been to Europe since the accident – to the Netherlands, Germany and to Switzerland as well,” he explains. He is in peak condition for the Cybathlon. “We selected him as our pilot from a pool of 40 candidates because of his physical fitness and his attitude,” says Emerson Fachin-Martins, clinical director of the EMA team. Lopes operates the bike pedals with the help of electric muscle stimulation, which, despite his paralysis, finely hones his leg muscles and also maintains bone density, explains Fachin-Martins.
The two US pilots from Team Cleveland are in similarly good shape. They will also be competing in the bicycle race with electric muscle stimulation and will decide shortly before the event which of them will take part. Although both men are well into their 50s, Michael McClellan and Mark Muhn were bursting with energy when they arrived at the hotel.
They have already learned their first German words – including “Grüezi” and “Auf Wiedersehen” – from their driver on the way to the hotel from the airport. Travel, including air travel, is the norm for them. Both live in California and regularly fly five hours to Ohio's Case Western Reserve University and the Cleveland Veterans Affairs Medical Center to train and to develop their bikes for the Cybathlon. They are the only pilots whose muscles are stimulated by implants. Muhn demonstrates proudly: a push of a button and his leg lifts itself as though he weren't paralysed. “We flew to Florida with the kids on holiday just two weeks after his skiing accident in 2009,” says Muhn's wife Carol, who has come with him to the Cybathlon. “We didn’t want to let his spinal injury restrict our life,” she says. “It’s just that now the planning is a bit more complicated.”
How will the wheelchair measure up in the competition?
The RT-Movers team from Japan is also staying at the same hotel, but the wheelchair they plan to use at the Cybathlon will only be arriving the following day. Shuro Nakajima is waiting with bated breath to determine that his invention has made it to Switzerland unscathed. He is a Professor of Engineering at Wakayama University and originally developed mobile robots, whose technology he is now using in mobility solutions for humans. “I wanted to do something useful for humanity,” he explains. Back in Japan, there is a strong belief in the benefits of technology, which is instilled from childhood via the robotic heroes of manga comics. Nakajima is excited to see how his wheelchair will measure up in the competition. In addition to a possible victory, he is also hoping to have plenty of opportunities to meet and speak with other researchers and inventors.
The other teams feel the same. “We hope that people will become more aware of our work,” says Peter Neuhaus from Team IHMC. Emerson Fachin-Martins from the Brazilian EMA team explains: “I want to find out how we can use bicycles with muscle stimulation to help people.” And Mark Muhn and Michael McClellan are also taking part so that further strides will be made in the development of technology to assist people with disabilities. If this happens, then it's clear from speaking to all involved that victory will simply be the icing on the cake.