BFH teams successful at Cybathlon

The essentials

• BFH took part in the ETH Zurich Cybathlon with two teams.

• The BFH-FAIR team won the jury award for innovative, user-friendly and practical design with its assistance robot.

The third Cybathlon took place in Kloten last weekend. The competition organised by ETH Zurich welcomes international teams from the worlds of academia and industry, who compete against each other in eight different disciplines. People with physical disabilities have to perform everyday-life tasks supported by state-of-the-art assistive technology systems. Two BFH teams also took part.

What is the Cybathlon?

Empty the dishwasher with a robotic arm

BFH-FAIR participated in the competition for the first time. The interdisciplinary team of researchers and students from the School of Engineering and Computer Science and the School of Health Professions is developing a robotic arm to help quadriplegics accomplish daily tasks. The robotic arm is controlled by Gabriela Pozzi and Fritz Eichholzer, both paraplegics since a cycling accident. During the Cybathlon, they had to accomplish various tasks, including emptying a dishwasher, picking up a bottle and hanging a scarf on a washing line.

Both pilots performed above expectations in the qualifying round and took 3rd and 4th place, which also caught the eye of the experts: The team was honoured with the Jury Award for its innovative, user-friendly and practical approach.

In the final, pilot Fritz Eichholzer came in a thankless 4th place. The initial disappointment quickly subsided for those involved - satisfaction and joy at the fantastic event prevailed. 'The overall experience was sensational,' said Fritz Eichholzer after the race, 'I had never performed in front of so many people before.' The interprofessional team of researchers and students from the Departments of Engineering and Computer Science and Health will now work on implementing the technology in practice.

Fritz Eichholzer in the Cybathlon final (source: ETH Zurich)

Moving forward thanks to electrical impulses

BFH's CybaTrike took part in the Cybathlon for the third time. The CybaTrike is a recumbent trike that people with complete paralysis of the lower limbs can propel by their own muscle power. This involves attaching electrodes to the skin, which conduct electrical impulses to the paralysed leg muscles and thus activate them. In the competition, pilot Julien Jouffroy had to cover a distance of two kilometres with the vehicle developed by the Institute for Human Centered Engineering HuCE. Julien Jouffroy put in a spirited race in qualifying and finished in 5th place. He narrowly missed out on a place in the final.

Julien Jouffroy during qualifying for the Cybathlon 2024 (source: ETH Zurich).

Originally, BFH-Hand-X was also lined up. Its 'feeling' prosthesis, which partially restores the sense of touch, has been underway since 2014 at the Institute for Human Centered Engineering HuCE. Unfortunately, the pilot dropped out. With no replacement, the team had to withdraw from the 2024 Cybathlon.