From October 25 to 27, 2024, three ISIR teams will be competing in the Cybathlon in Zurich, Switzerland. Thanks to their skills and research, the participants will have the opportunity to showcase technological advances in specific tasks linked to the daily lives of people with disabilities.
The Cybathlon is a 4-yearly event organized by the ETH Zurich, challenging teams from all over the world in 8 events. The aim is to demonstrate the technological advances that can be made to help disabled people accomplish the tasks of daily life.
For the 2024 edition, three French teams will represent ISIR in these events:
– The Smart ArM team specializes in the development of advanced arm prostheses for transhumeral amputees. It is competing in the “Arm Prosthesis Race” category. The team’s events will take place on October 26 (qualifying rounds from 11:35am to 12:30pm, then category finals from 3pm to 3:30pm).
Founded by Nathanaël Jarrassé, this interdisciplinary team of scientists from ISIR, accompanied by doctors from Nancy’s Regional Rehabilitation Institute, is led by pilot Christophe Huchet, professional coach and former French champion swimmer born with agenesis of the right arm including the elbow. Their innovative prosthesis, named SAM (Smart ArM), features control based on the decoding of human whole-body movement strategies, and offers two motorized degrees of freedom, including a unique exoskeletal elbow. Beyond technical performance, the team aims to raise awareness of the complexity of “above the elbow” amputations and promote non-invasive approaches.
– The Smart ArM ROB team is developing new sensorimotor control methods for assistance robotics, particularly in prostheses and exoskeletons. The team is competing in the “Assistance Robot Race” category, which will be held on October 25 and 26 (qualifying rounds from 6:20 to 7pm on October 25, and category final from 3:30 to 4pm on October 26).
Smart ArM ROB is a branch of the Smart ArM team, whose driver, Etienne Moullet, a quadriplegic since adolescence, brings scientific expertise and a passion for sporting challenges, perfectly illustrating the spirit of Cybathlon. Using the SAM-W (Smart ArM for Wheelchair), an innovative device based on a commercial robotic arm and mounted on a power-assisted wheelchair, the team stands out for its advanced technology and a control strategy based on body movements. SmartArM ROB embodies the fusion of cutting-edge research and human determination, perfectly suited to this competition dedicated to the advancement of assistive robotics.
– The A-Eye team is competing with a project based on sensory substitution and/or augmentation via kinaesthetic feedback, offering an innovative approach to guiding visually impaired people. The team is competing in the “Vision Assistance Race” category. The team’s events will take place on October 26 and 27 (qualifying events from 8:45pm to 9:25pm on October 26, followed by the category final from 2:10pm to 2:30pm on October 27).
The team is the result of an innovative project involving a dozen groups of Sorbonne University students and research carried out at ISIR by Ludovic Saint-Bauzel and Fabien Vérité. The team pilot, Salomé Nashed, visually impaired since birth, is a biology researcher. The system developed, in the form of a harness equipped with a kinaesthetic feedback device, aims to interpret the pilot’s environment and reproduce the interaction with a guide. This initiative, at the crossroads of innovation and inclusion, illustrates the transformative potential of university research to improve the lives of visually impaired people.
All events will be broadcast live from October 25 to 27 on the Cybathlon website.
Find out more about the full competition program.
Published 21/10/2024.
