Russian teams took part in five of six disciplines at the Cybathlon in Zurich at the weekend, in the world’s first international competition for disabled people who use hi-tech devices to help them in their everyday lives.
A contestant taking part in the powered arm race at the world's first Cybathlon in Zurich over the weekend. Photo: ETH Zurich / Alessandro Della Bella.
Though the Russian contestants did not take away any prizes, the companies making the devices being put through the paces at the sold-out event saw it primarily as a chance to see how their technology, ranging from exoskeletons to high-tech prosthetic limbs, compared to other assistive devices on the international market. And considering that the Russian products were mostly still under development, and that they were competing with those made by long established market leaders or by the world’s leading universities, Russia put in a decent showing, according to Albert Yefimov, head of the Robocentre of the Skolkovo Foundation, one of the Russian development institutes that helped organize the Russian teams’ participation in the Cybathlon.
Electric wheelchair maker Caterwil, for example, took sixth place out of 12 teams in the powered wheelchair race, finishing ahead of a team from Imperial College London, Yefimov noted. “That’s an achievement in itself,” he said.
In the most competitive discipline – the brain computer interface (BCI) race, in which contestants have to control a computer using their brain – Russia’s Neurobotics came fifth out of 12 teams.
“All the other teams represented world-class research universities, such as Max Planck institutes, Imperial College London, the University of Essex, Korea University and others,” said Yefimov, who compared parts of the competition to the battle between David and Goliath. “To finish in the top five is a great achievement for our startup.”
The Cybathlon aimed to draw attention to the needs of disabled people and to gather tech developers in one place to encourage them to create new devices, as well as showcasing how robotic technology helps people in their day-to-day lives. Accordingly, the tasks involved closely resembled everyday tasks, such as changing a lightbulb with a prosthetic hand or going up and downs stairs with a prosthetic leg. A total of 66 teams from around the world took part in the event.
Neurobotics also took part in the powered exoskeleton race, coming seventh out of nine in the event for disabled people wearing robotic suits that help them walk again. Motorica, a resident startup of the Skolkovo Foundation’s biomed cluster, presented its myoelectric arm, the Stradivary, in the powered arm prosthesis race. The bionic limb, which the company began working on earlier this summer, came 10th out of 12 in its category.
The best result for Russia came in the powered leg prosthesis race, in which the company Orto-Kosmos came fourth out of 12 teams with its Metiz Hyperknee. The top three places were taken by pilots using limbs made by OSSUR, an Icelandic company founded 45 years ago. Orto-Kosmos did, however, finish ahead of an Austrian team using a limb made by market leader Otto Bock.
Members of Team Russia posing for a group picture, with Albert Yefimov on the far right. Photo: Sk.ru.
“Orto-Kosmos … was way ahead of the other competitors. I think that’s not just because they have the best technology, but because their pilot, Dmitry Ignatov, is someone who was genuinely motivated to win,” said Yefimov.
Ignatov, a TV presenter in his mid-20s who lost a leg while serving in the army, says his hydraulic Metiz Hyperknee can do anything that an electric knee can do.
“But unlike electronic models, I don’t rely on an energy source. I don’t need to look for sockets, like you do to charge your telephone, or as I do my everyday leg, which I charge every three to four days,” he told the Ruptly video news agency following the competition.
There was just one discipline at the Cybathlon in which Russia was not represented: the functional electrical stimulation (FES) bike race, in which electrodes are placed on an athlete’s skin and a current applied to the muscles, causing them to contract and allowing disabled people to initiate movement via an intelligent control device.
Yefimov said that he would like to see more teams from Russia’s leading universities at the next Cybathlon, which the organisers – Switzerland’s ETH Zurich science and technology university – plan to hold in four years’ time. He added that the experience had shown that Russia’s development institutes, such as the Skolkovo Foundation, Russian Venture Company and the Agency for Strategic Initiatives – which joined forces to help the Russian teams to travel to Zurich for the Cybathlon – did not just take part in panel discussions talking about the future, but could also work together.
The robotics expert also said it was not the sole responsibility of the state to develop new technology to improve the everyday lives of disabled people.
“Supporting the transformation of people with special needs into people with special powers is the responsibility of us: engineers, officials, scientists and capitalists,” said Yefimov.
“It is we who decide and who make the world more comfortable for those who don’t have it as easy as we do.”