BFH at the Cybathlon

The BFH-CybaTrike team, led by Kenneth Hunt, is taking part in the Cybathlon for the third time in 2024, in the discipline ‘FES – Functional Electrical Stimulation Bike Race’. 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. The timing of the activation is controlled by sensors on the pedal crank arm. With feedback from these sensors and the pre-set activation positions, the system knows the precise position of the rider’s legs and the corresponding muscles can be stimulated in a targeted manner. The level of stimulation and thus the degree of activation is controlled by the trike pilot via a throttle on the handlebar.

Unfortunately, no replacement could be found for the chosen pilot who cannot participate for health reasons. The team will therefore not take part in the 2024 Cybathlon.

At the Institute for Human Centered Engineering HuCE, the development of a feedback system for a ‘feeling’ prosthesis, which partially restores the sense of touch, has been underway since 2014. This system is able to distinguish rough surface textures, the hardness or even the density of a (soft) object, and more besides. The team around Gerhard Kuert took part in the Cybathlon for the first time in 2020.

The interdisciplinary team BFH-FAIR with researchers and students from the School of Engineering & Computer Science and the School of Health Professions will compete in the Cybathlon for the first time in 2024, in the Assistance Robot Race, a newly created discipline. In this discipline, tetraplegics solve different tasks with the help of a robotic assistive device. The team has two pilots: Fritz Eichholzer, a former engineer from Thalwil, and Gaby Pozzi from Ennetbaden. Both suffered a bicycle accident that left them tetraplegic. For Fritz, the accident happened shortly before retirement. Gaby was younger and, thanks to multiple operations, she can perform simple manual activities that require little strength, such as operating a switch or shaking hands. Both pilots have found different ways to get through the daily activities. An assistive robot has great potential to increase their autonomy. At the Cybathlon, both will use the robot to solve tasks, avoid obstacles as well as recognise and manipulate various objects.