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Cybathlon 2020 takes place on global platform

Cybathlon 2020 takes place on global platform

Tokyo (SCCIJ) – Over 70 teams from 23 countries will compete in this year’s Cybathlon, a championship for people with physical disabilities using state-of-the-art technical assistance systems. A unique new platform will bring together highly-motivated pilots participating in the established disciplines from around the globe. The teams will not travel to Zurich as planned but will participate from their own countries – including Japan. The SCCIJ is supporting the Tokyo competition as a platinum sponsor.

Cybathlon 2020 takes place on global platform

In contrast to the Paralympics, people with physical disabilities are using technical assistant systems at Cybathlon (Photo: Cybathlon / Maximilian Wührer).

Pandemic forces changes

After four years of preparation and a postponement due to the pandemic, the world’s second-ever Cybathlon competition will take place as “Cybathlon 2020 Global Edition” on 13 and 14 November, and in a new format: the teams will compete from their respective home countries! The Cybathlon organizers and participants will embed content into a live program and broadcast delivered via a new online platform. Ten Swiss teams will participate locally on the campus of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich.

Surmounting the inherent challenges of hosting a competitive event amid a pandemic, this newly developed competition model combines regional Covid compliant physical events with virtual access. Currently, teams from 23 countries have registered to participate and will set up the Cybathlon competition infrastructure in their home countries. This means that the pilots will not start simultaneously and directly next to each other, but independently of other teams.

Largest Hub in Zurich

Some teams from the same country, however, will contend side-by-side in their respective country hub. In total, there will be about 13 hubs around the globe. The largest of these hubs will be at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich, who is the inventor and organizer of this event. Another hub is located in Tokyo.

The Cybathlon 2020 Global Edition will feature the same six race disciplines as the 2016 competition: the Brain-Computer Interface Race, Functional Electrical Stimulation Bike Race, Powered Arm Prosthesis Race, Powered Leg Prosthesis Race, Powered Exoskeleton Race, and the Powered Wheelchair Race.

Switzerland is represented in all six disciplines with altogether ten teams. They will compete against each other in the Arch_Tec_Lab, a large hall for construction robots on ETH Zurich’s Hönggerberg campus. Four of the teams stem from ETH Zurich research; the others represent other national universities and organizations.

Five teams from Japan will participate in Cybathlon 2020. Four of them compete in the powered wheelchair race, the fifth is going for the powered leg prosthesis race. The wheelchair teams from Wakayama University andOsaka Electro-Communication University will set up courses at their respective universities. Some of these competing Japanese teams already took part in the CYBATHLON Wheelchair Series Japan 2019 held last year in Kawasaki.

The SCCIJ is supporting the Cybathlon Tokyo Hub as a platinum sponsor to send the message that the Swiss business community in Japan is committed to sustainable development goals and social corporate responsibilities even during difficult times. In addition, the SCCIJ views the Cybathlon event as a unique sponsoring opportunity because one single event features Japanese as well as Swiss efforts in this important field.

Live Worldwide

The Cybathlon organizers will launch its online platform in early November. The new multimedia platform enables spectators and members of the media all over the world to follow the races. Teams will integrate their film footage from their race venues and hubs into a live program, subtitled in various languages, and translated into international sign language.

This Cybathlon program consists of a ten-hour theme day on Friday, 13 November and includes not only the qualification races, but also numerous supplementary contributions featuring the pilots, background reports on inclusion, in-depth look at the technologies, and interviews with experts. The four best teams in each discipline will then compete in the final races on Saturday, 14 November – also available live on the platform.

Text: Martin Fritz (with ETH Zurich material) for SCCIJ.

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