CYBATHLON

This is

For a world without barriers.

Moving People and Technology

CYBATHLON, a non-profit project of ETH Zurich, acts as a platform that challenges teams from all over the world to develop assistive technologies suitable for everyday use with and for people with disabilities. The driving force behind CYBATHLON is international competitions and events, in which teams consisting of technology developers from universities, companies or NGOs and a person with disabilities tackle various everyday tasks with their latest assistive technologies. The participants with physical disabilities show how to tie shoelaces with a robotic arm prosthesis, balance on rocks with a prosthetic leg or overcome uneven terrain with an exoskeleton.

On the road to 2024, two more disciplines were added to the original six: a race with smart visual assistance technologies for people with severe visual impairment and a race with assistance robots for people with severe impairment of the upper and lower extremities.

Innovation and Dialogue as the Goal

Through CYBATHLON, ETH Zurich demonstrates what research and development mean for society. Since the idea was born in 2013, more than 100 teams from over 30 countries have taken part in CYBATHLON competitions. Observed and cheered on by thousands of spectators in the stadium and around the world, in recent years the development teams have shown which obstacles people with disabilities face in their everyday lives and how technology can contribute to overcoming these barriers. As a platform, CYBATHLON connects society, research and development and people with disabilities in an emotional, positive, and unique way.

CYBATHLON aims to constantly analyse what is already in existence and to create new, forward-looking event formats and projects – for a world without barriers.

Overcoming daily challenges with assistive technology

With the aim of driving forward the development of assistive technologies for people with disabilities, CYBATHLON continues to challenge the teams of developers and end-users with adapted and new CYBATHLON disciplines.

In CYBATHLON competitions, teams from all over the world compete with and against each other in eight different disciplines. Teams consist of a technology developer and a participant with a disability, referred to as a pilot. The tasks in the respective disciplines represent everyday activities.

While the competition tasks for CYBATHLON 2016 and 2020 were specified to a very high degree, tasks for CYBATHLON 2024 will include more uncertainty and variability in most disciplines. This will require improved dynamic control, increased functional flexibility of the devices and more ad-hoc selection of the problem-solving strategy by the pilots. The aim of adding variability to the competition tasks is to better account for everyday situations where the exact circumstances of a given task are not always known and/or constant over time and across different locations.

To participate in CYBATHLON competitions, pilots and the assistive devices used must meet specific eligibility criteria. Among other things, pilots must be at least 18 years old and meet the discipline-specific pilot eligibility criteria, and the assistive devices must be safe for the users and their surroundings at all times.

To the Disciplines
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