Kawasaki (SCCIJ) – The Cybathlon Wheelchair Series Japan 2019, an offshoot of the Cybathlon competition from Switzerland, featured exciting races on a challenging course and an arena charged with emotions. Eight teams from Switzerland, Japan, Russia, and Hong Kong participated in a powered wheelchair race, testing out and using the latest state-of-the-art technical assistance systems. The SCCIJ donated 1 million yen for this first-ever single-discipline event affiliated with Cybathlon. The Embassy of Switzerland in Japan also provided support.
Winners of the Cybathlon Wheelchair Series Japan 2019 (© ETH Zurich/Takao Ochi)
Six disciplines, three goals
Started by ETH Zurich in 2016, Cybathlon is a competition of six disciplines for people with disabilities that participate with the aid of highly-advanced assistive technology systems and their engineers. After the first Cybathlon in Switzerland in 2016, organizers decided to hold single-discipline events worldwide separate from the original Cybathlon to raise awareness for the flagship event.
The other five disciplines include Brain-Computer Interface Race, Functional Electrical Stimulation Bike Race, Powered Arm Prosthesis Race, Powered Leg Prosthesis Race, and Powered Exoskeleton Race, and will be taking place across other regions, with the next full Cybathlon to happen in Switzerland in 2020.
The three main Cybathlon goals are the development of assistive devices useful for daily life, the collaboration between the developers and the final users, and the encouragement of a dialogue with the general public about social inclusion.
Strong Japanese motivation
Japan as a whole is advancing its efforts towards an inclusive society, and the use of technology is one approach. The municipality of Kawasaki promotes diversity through its Para Movement activities, which are very much compatible with the ideals of Cybathlon. These developments motivated the city to organize the Cybathlon event.
Alongside the competition, engineers and team leaders introduced their latest research in the field of assistive technology at a scientific symposium in Kawasaki. Speakers included Professor Robert Riener of ETH Zurich, President of the Fujita Health University Professor Eiichi Saitoh, as well as Dr. Garrett Grindle and Mr. Sivashankar Sivakanthan of the University of Pittsburgh.
Florian Hauser of the winning Swiss team HSR Enhanced (ETH Zürich / Takao Ochi)
Swiss team as a winner
The powered wheelchair competition in Kawasaki included the original obstacle course of the Cybathlon and followed its rules. Most notable was that the pilots completed the tasks correct, safe, and secure. The time came in as a secondary factor. Pilot Florian Hauser won the Cybathlon Wheelchair Series Japan 2019 with his team HSR Enhanced.
After two careful qualifying heats securing the final, Florian went full speed and risk to win the title with a perfect point score: he won the race against Russian competitors and friends ‘Team Caterwil’ with 660 to 559 points, making the time category irrelevant, his team reported.
The “Fortississimo” team from Keio University’s faculty of science and technology came in third. It used an electric wheelchair developed by studying the mobility of field robots dispatched to disaster sites, among other techniques.
“We’d like to improve our wheelchair in time for the second series next year so that it’ll be able to recognize a doorknob automatically. Our goal is to make it work in everyday life,” told team leader Genya Ishigami, an associate professor at Keio, the Yomiuri Shimbun.
Hiroshi Nozima of team Fortississimo (Japan) came in third (ETH Zürich / Takao Ochi)
SCCIJ support
The Swiss Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Japan backed the Cybathlon Series event in Kawasaki because the chamber wanted to support Swiss values towards social inclusion, to promote Swiss innovation and to connect with major Japanese companies partnering with the event.
“The Cybathlon Kawasaki demonstrated yet again that challenges do bring the best out of us,” SCCIJ President Andre Zimmermann said. “Technology proved evermore; there are no boundaries to what is possible. Many thanks to the Japanese and Swiss organizers (and co-sponsors) who made it all possible.” SCCIJ Executive Director Liselotte Schneider supported the competition as a volunteer.
The Cybathlon Wheelchair Series Japan 2019 was also one of the stations of the Grand Tour of Switzerland, part of the Doors to Switzerland events and communication campaign organized by the Embassy of Switzerland in Japan towards the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Text: Martin Fritz (partly with ETH Zurich material) for SCCIJ
