AOT, Switzerland
King’s College, UK
EPFL Lausanne, Switzerland
EPFL, Switzerland
University of Basel, Switzerland
University of Calabria, Italy
Stäubli, Switzerland
Politecnico di Milano, Italy
Leiden University, Netherlands
Canton Basel-City, Switzerland
Politecnico di Torino, Italy
Leiden University, Netherlands
University of Innsbruck, Austria
CYBATHLON, ETH Zurich
IFTOMM president, University of Duisburg Essen, Germany
IISART / Tecnalia, Spain
ETH Zurich, Switzerland
University of Poitiers, France
Heidelberg University, Germany
ETH Zurich, Switzerland
Stäubli AG, Switzerland
University of Wyoming, USA
University of Cluj-Napoca, Romania
BIROMED-Lab, Switzerland
ETH Zurich, Switzerland
University of Basel, Switzerland
MathWorks
Johns Hopkins University, USA
Hocoma AG, Switzerland
Institute of Biomedical Optics, University of Luebeck, Germany
University of Bern, Germany
University of Basel, Switzerland
University Hospital in Basel, Switzerland
CYBATHLON, ETH Zürich
CYBATHLON, UTH Zürich
Cyrill Baetscher is CEO of Advanced Osteotomy Tools (AOT) and is responsible for Marketing & Sales and Business Development.
Cyrill Baetscher holds an MBA from the State University of New York at Albany (USA) and a BBA from the Graduate School for Business Administration in Zurich (CH). In addition, he holds a degree in mechanical engineering from the FHNW Muttenz (CH). Cyrill Bätscher has extensive expertise in management positions at MedTech companies (Stratec Medical, Synthes, Johnson & Johnson) as well as in industry (Ringele AG, DoetschGrether AG).
Christos Bergeles received the Ph.D. degree in Robotics from ETH Zurich, Switzerland, in 2011. He was a postdoctoral research fellow at Boston Children’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts, and the Hamlyn Centre for Robotic Surgery, Imperial College, United Kingdom. He is now a Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor) the School of Biomedical Engineering and Imaging Sciences of King's College London, leading the Robotics and Vision in Medicine Lab. Dr. Bergeles received the Fight for Sight Award in 2014, and the ERC Starting Grant in 2016. His main research area is image-guided micro-surgical robotics.
Hannes Bleuler, M.S. in electrical engineering at ETH Zürich, obtained a PhD at ETH in 1984, on a mechatronics topic (magnetic bearings, Prof. G. Schweitzer).
He then went to work for Hitachi in Japan (Mechanical Engineering Research Lab, Tsuchiura Factory of Hitachi Ltd.)
In 1987, he became lecturer at ETHZ and co-founded Mecos Traxler AG, Winterthur.
1991-1995 he was associate professor at The University of Tokyo, Inst. of Industrial Science.
Since 1995 he was full professor of Robotics at EPFL Lausanne, specializing, among other topics, in biomedical robotics (surgery, exoskeletons, haptic interfaces).
He retired from EPFL in 2019.
Dr. Mohamed Bouri is with Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL, Switzerland). He is the head of Rehabilitation and Assistive Robotics group since 2005 and lecturer of Robotics and Industrial Robotics. He graduated in Electrical Engineering in 1992 and obtained his PhD degree in 1997 in Industrial Automation at INSA LYON, France. Since 1997, he is at EPFL and is mainly active in the field of robotic rehabilitation for lower limbs. Dr Bouri has strong references with the development of many rehabilitation robotic devices and exoskeletons (LegoPress, TWIICE, Autonomyo, HiBSO, Handreha,…) and of industrial robotic applications.
Philippe Cattin is Full Professor at University of Basel. He is the founder of the Center for medical Image Analysis and Navigation (CIAN) at the Medical Faculty of the University of Basel.
He is the founding head and still heading the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Basel. Philippe was in 2017 a Research Fellow at the Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston/MA.
His research interests include medical image analysis, image-guided therapy, robotics-guided laser osteotomy and virtual reality. As a Principal Investigator, he has successfully completed many projects in these areas and published over 250 papers, patents and book chapters. He is also the founder of two spin-off companies and licensed his patents and software to medical device companies.
Prof. Dr. Giuseppe Carbone is Associate Professor at DIMEG, University of Calabria, Italy. His research interests cover aspects of Mechanics of Manipulation and Grasp, Mechanics of Robots, Mechanics of Machinery with more than 300 published papers. He has been participating and coordinating more than 20 research projects at national and international level including the 7th European Framework and Horizon 2020. Prof. Dr. Giuseppe Carbone is furthermore member of the IFToMM (International Federation for the Promotion of Mechanism and Machine Science).
Jean-Marc Collet, BU Manager, Division Marketing Manager / Robotics, Stäubli AG
With 25-year experience in robotics and industrial automation Jean-Marc Collet is global manager of Stäubli AG, Swiss Business Unit of the Stäubli group.
For many years now, Stäubli Robotics has been on a mission to develop robots for life science applications, also meeting all the constraints of patient care.
Easy to clean, with minimal particle emissions and high precision, they relieve doctors of some of the strain they are under while performing operations that demand their full concentration
Elena De Momi, MSc in Biomedical Engineering in 2002, PhD in Bioengineering in 2006, currently Associate Professor in the Electronic Information and Bioengineering Department (DEIB) of Politecnico di Milano. She is co-founder of the Neuroengineering and Medical Robotics Laboratory, in 2008, being responsible of the Medical Robotics section. IEEE Senior Member, she is currently Associate Editor of the Journal of Medical Robotics Research, of the International Journal of Advanced Robotic Systems, Frontiers in Robotics and AI and Medical & Biological Engineering & Computing. From 2016 she has been an Associated Editor of IEEE ICRA, IROS and BioRob, Area Chair of MICCAI and she is currently Publication Co-Chair of ICRA 2019. She is responsible for the lab course in Medical Robotics and of the course on Clinical Technology Assessment of the MSc degree in Biom. Eng. at Politecnico di Milano and she serves in the board committee of the PhD course in Bioengineering.
Her academic interests include computer vision and image-processing, artificial intelligence, augmented reality and simulators, teleoperation, haptics, medical robotics, human robot interaction. She participated to several EU funded projects in the field of Surgical Robotics (ROBOCAST, ACTIVE and EuRoSurge, where she was PI for partner POLIMI). She is currently PI for POLIMI of the EDEN2020 project, aimed at developing a neurosurgery drug delivery system and of the ATLAS MSCA-ITN-2018-EJD, and coordinator of the MSCA-IF-2017 – Individual Fellowships. She has been evaluator and reviewer for the European Commission in FP6, FP7 and H2020.
Hadassah Drukarch is a Research Assistant at the eLaw Center for Law and Digital Technologies at Leiden University (NL), and the founder of The Law of Tech, an online platform aimed at preparing the legal world of tomorrow by educating about the interaction between law and new technologies. She is currently working on Liaison, an FSTP from the H2020 COVR project that aims to link robot development and policymaking to reduce the complexity in robot legal compliance under the EU’s H2020 Research and Innovation Program Grant Agreement No 779966.
Dr. iur. Lukas Engelberger is state council of the Canton Basel-City and head of the Canton’s Department of Health.
Carlo Ferraresi is Full Professor in Applied Mechanics at the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering of the Politecnico di Torino, Italy, since 2000. He has been a regular lecturer of Applied Mechanics, Basic Engineering Mechanics, Robot Mechanics, Mechanics and Control of Mechanical Systems, Mechanics of Biomedical Systems. He is author of several textbooks on applied mechanics, fluid automation, and control of mechanical systems. His main academic commitments were: Deputy Chair of the Bachelor's degree program in Mechanical Engineering (1999-2001); Chair of the Ph.D. course in Applied Mechanics (1999-2012); Vice Dean of the 1st Faculty of Engineering (2003-2012); Chair of the Technical Committee for Biomechanical Engineering of IFToMM (since 2016); Chair of the International Scientific Committee of RAAD (Robotics in Alpe-Adria-Danube Region, since 2019); Deputy Director of the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering (since 2020). His main research topics are: Industrial Automation, Robotics, Mechatronics, Fluid Power and Biomechanical Engineering. He is member of several editorial boards and frequent reviewer of various scientific journals and conferences. He also acts as a reviewer for several national and international funding organizations. He led several research projects funded by the Italian Ministry for Research, CNR, ASI, and The British Council. He is currently associated with the Turin section of INFN (National Institute of Nuclear Physics).
Dr. Fosch-Villaronga is an Assistant Professor at the eLaw Center for Law and Digital Technologies at Leiden University (NL) where he investigates legal and regulatory aspects of robot and AI technologies, with a special focus on healthcare. Eduard recently published the book ‘Robots, Healthcare, and the Law. Regulating Automation in Personal Care’ with Routledge and is interested in human-robot interaction, responsible innovation, and the future of law.
Dr. Lukas Jaeger is the Head of Competition & Partnerships at CYBATHLON. The CYBATHLON is a platform to advance research and development in the field of assistive technology suitable for everyday use. At the same time, CYBATHLON aims to promote the dialogue with the public on the topic of inclusion and equality of people with disabilities.
From 2003 to 2009 Dr. Lukas Jaeger studied human movement sciences at ETH Zurich, and he is also a certified sports instructor and coach. From 2011 to 2015 he conducted his PhD studies on the neural correlates of lower limb motor control. After graduating he held different roles in the pharmaceutical industry before joining the CYBATHLON project team in June 2017.
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Dr. h. c. Andrés Kecskeméthy is President of IFToMM (International Federation for the Promotion of Mechanism and Machine Science) and Head of the Institute for Engineering Sciences at the University of Duisburg Essen, Germany.
Thierry Keller received his Dipl. Ing. degree in electrical engineering (M.Sc.E.E.) and his Doctorate (Dr. sc. Techn.) from the ETH Zurich, Switzerland in 1995 and 2001, respectively. Currently, Dr. Keller is the head of the Neurorehabilitation Department at Tecnalia, the largest private research center in Spain. Since 2015, Dr. Keller chairs the umbrella society International Consortium for Rehabilitation Technologies (ICRT), which associates IISART, IFESS, ICORR and ICVR societies with the aim to organize joint conferences under the brand Rehabweek. Dr. Keller is executive board member of the International Functional Electrical Stimulation Society (IFESS), and the International Industry Society in Advanced Rehabilitation Technologies (IISART).
Olivier Lambercy is a Senior Scientist and the Deputy Director of the Rehabilitation Engineering Laboratory at ETH Zurich. He studied Microengineering at the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland, where he received the MSc degree in 2005. He completed his PhD at the National University of Singapore (NUS) in 2009, in collaboration with Simon Fraser University (SFU), Canada and Imperial College London.
Dr. Lambercy’s research focuses on the development and use of technology to improve upper limb assessment and therapy after stroke. Since 2017, he serves as associate editor in the Journal of NeuroEngineering and Rehabilitation.
M. A. LARIBI is an Associate Professor in the Fundamental and Applied Sciences Faculty of the University of Poitiers (UP), where he teaches robotics and mechanic. He has a Mechanical Engineer Degree (specialization on Mechanical Design) from École Nationale d'Ingénieurs de Monsatir (E.N.I.M.) in 2001. M.S. in Mechanical Design, 2002. He received his Ph.D. in Mechanics from University of Poitiers in 2005 and National Habilitation in Mechanics from
University of Poitiers in 2018. His research interests, at the Dept. of G.M.S.C. of Pprime Institute, include robots design and mechanism synthesis. His main research area in mechanism theory focuses on Forward and Inverse Kinematics, Singular configurations, Workspace determination and Optimal design. He is coordinator of the International Research Project IRP RACeS - Robotic Assisted System for Safe Cervical Surgery. Prof. Dr. Med Amine Laribi is furthermore member of the IFToMM (International Federation for the Promotion of Mechanism and Machine Science).
Lorenzo Masia graduated in Mechanical Engineering at “Sapienza” University of Rome in 2003 and in 2007 He accomplished his PhD in “Mechanical Measurement for Engineering” at the University of Padua.
He started his path in robotics spending two years at the Mechanical Engineering Dept. of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) (from Jan- 2005 to Dec 2006) working at the Newman Lab for Biomechanics and Human Rehabilitation.
He was then postdoctoral researcher at the Italian Institute of Technology (IIT) in the Robotics Brain and Cognitive Sciences Department and He started his academic path as Assistant Professor at the School of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering (MAE) at Nanyang Technological University (NTU) of Singapore (2013-2018). He was Associate Professor in Biodesign at the Department of Biomechanical Engineering of the University of Twente (The Netherlands) from June 2018 to March 2019. Now, since April 2019, He is Full Professor in Medical Technology at Heidelberg University (Germany) at the Institute of Computer Engineering or Institut für Technische Informatik (ZITI), leading the ARIES Lab (Assistive Robotics and Interactive ExoSuits).
Prof Masia was awarded multiple times in the leading conferences in Biorobotics and Robotic Rehabilitation winning two IEEE Best Student Paper Awards (IEEE ICORR2015 and IEEE Biorob2016), one IEEE Best Paper Award (IEEE ICORR2011), and finalists of "Best Human-Robot Interaction (HRI) Paper Award" at IEEE ICRA 2017.
He has been appointed three times Program Chair for the IEEE International Conference in Rehabilitation Robotics (ICORR) 2015, IEEE Biorobotics and Biomechatronic Conference (BIOROB) 2016 and International Conference on Neurorehabilitation (ICNR 2018).
He served as Chairman for Workshop/Tutorial for the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (IEEE ICRA 2017), and He was the Co-Program Chair of IEEE ICORR 2017 (London, UK), and Co-Program Chair, Editor in Chief and Editor of Publication for IEEE Biorob 2018.
Jan T. Meyer, MSc, is a PhD candidate at the Rehabilitation Engineering Laboratory, in the Department of Health Sciences and Technology at ETH Zurich. His research focuses on the development and application of user-centred design approaches for robotic assistive technologies. He is particularly interested in improving the usability evaluation and target population involvement during the development of devices for people with sensorimotor deficits. Over the course of the last five years, Jan has been involved in the development and testing of numerous wearable robots for assistance and augmentation at ETH Zurich, Harvard University, and the ETH Zurich Spinoff Auxivo.
Dr. Izabela Noll is Business Developer Robotics for Pharma and Medical Devices at Stäubli AG, Swiss Business Unit of the Stäubli group.
Dr. Izabela Noll holds Master degree in Biotechnology and PhD in Molecular Genetics. Due to her roles across different industries, she became experienced professional for Life Science, Pharma, Clinical Diagnostics and Bioprocessing with the applicative knowledge on reagents, consumables, equipment, and robotics. She joined recently Stäubli AG to support the local team in defining suitable robotic solutions for medical devices and patient care.
Domen Novak received their diploma and PhD in Electrical Engineering from the University of Ljubljana, Slovenia, in 2008 and 2011, respectively. They were a postdoctoral fellow at ETH Zurich, Switzerland, from 2012 to 2014. They joined the University of Wyoming in 2014 as an Assistant Professor and were promoted to Associate Professor in 2020. Their research spans diverse areas of human-machine interaction, including wearable robotics, rehabilitation engineering, serious games, and affective computing.
Professor Doina PISLA is currently the Director of Council for University Doctoral Studies within the University of Cluj-Napoca, Romania and the Director of the Research Center for Robots Simulation and Testing - CESTER within the same university.
Professor Doina PISLA obtained her PhD within the Technical University of Cluj-Napoca in 1997.
Following an academic carrier, she became full professor at the Department of Mechanical Systems Engineering in 2005, teaching lectures in Parallel Robots and Medical Robotics.
Prof. Pisla’s research activity is focused mainly on the field of Robotics and Mechatronics, with emphasis on the Kinematics and Dynamics of parallel robots, Development of innovative medical robots, Reconfigurable structures. As a result of her scientific activity, prof. Pisla published over 180 peer-reviewed full papers in scientific journals and conferences, co-authored over 10 patents. She has been director or key member of more than 50 international and national projects.
She founded and organized the first MESROB Workshop in Cluj-Napoca, Romania in 2012 and she initiated the new Springer Book Serie “New Trends in Medical and Service Robots” in 2014.
She served in boards and program committees of various international conferences and congresses, being currently member of the Technical Committee for Computational Kinematics and for Biomechanical Engineering of International Federation for the Promotion of Mechanism and Machine Science (IFToMM).
Georg Rauter is Assistant Professor for Medical Robotics and Mechatronics at the Bio-Inspired Robots for MEDicine-Lab (BIROMED-Lab) at the Department of Biomedical Engineering of the University of Basel. As head of the BIROMED-Lab, he leads one of the four research groups of the Department’s flagship project on Minimally Invasive Robot-Assisted Computer-guided LaserosteotomE (MIRACLE Project).
Georg Rauter received his Ph.D. at the ETH Zurich in the field of robot-assisted multimodal human motor learning and has a background in Mechatronics in Mechanical Engineering (Dipl.-Ing.at TU Graz) and Mathematical and Mechanical Modeling (Ing. Dipl. at the Université Bordeaux).
Georg Rauter is General Chair of the Medical Robotics Week 2021, as well as of the 7th international Workshop on New Trends in Medical and Service Robotics, Basel (MESROB2021).
Prof. Dr. Robert Riener is a full professor for sensorimotor systems at the Department of Health Sciences and Technology (D-HEST), ETH Zurich. In May 2003 he was appointed assistant professor for rehabilitation engineering at the ETH Zurich. In June 2006 he was promoted to associate professor and in June 2010 to full professor. Since his position is a double professorship jointly with the university, he is also active at the Research Center for Paraplegiology at the Balgrist University Hospital as a full professor of the medical faculty, University of Zurich.
His current research focuses on the areas of human motion synthesis, biomechanics, virtual reality, human-machine interaction and rehabilitation robotics. He is the author and co-author of over 400 peer-reviewed articles and 24 patents, has won numerous prizes and is a member of numerous specialist societies (including IEEE / EMBS, DGBMT / VDE, IFESS) and co-editor of several specialist journals. The arm therapy robot ARMin, developed under his leadership, has received several awards (humanTech innovation award, Swiss Technology Award). Prof. Dr. Riener also won the IEEE Best Paper Award 2010 and the euRobotics Technology Transfer Awards 2011 and 2012. Riener is the founder and organizer of the Cybathlon, for which he received the European Excellence Award, the Yahoo Sports Technology Award and an honorary doctorate from the University of Basel.
Prof. Dr. Torsten Schwede is Vice President of Research as well as Professor for structural bioinformatics at the University of Basel. He is furthermore Head of the Research Group on “Protein Bioinformatics in 3D: Sequence – structure – function”, that develops computer programs which allow to model the structure of proteins that have not previously been elucidated experimentally.
Dr. Visa Suomi is the Medical Devices Industry Manager at MathWorks. He has over 10 years of international experience in the life sciences and healthcare sector, with an interdisciplinary background from the medical technology industry, academia, and clinical research. He holds a doctoral degree (DPhil in Healthcare Innovation) from the University of Oxford, UK, with the focus on translating academic and clinical research into commercial applications.
Russell H. Taylor received his Ph.D. in Computer Science from Stanford in 1976. He joined IBM Research in 1976, where he developed the AML robot language and managed the Automation Technology Department and (later) the Computer-Assisted Surgery Group before moving in 1995 to Johns Hopkins, where he is the John C. Malone Professor of Computer Science with joint appointments in Mechanical Engineering, Radiology, and Surgery and is also Director of the (graduated) Engineering Research Center for Computer-Integrated Surgical Systems and Technology (CISST ERC) and of the Laboratory for Computational Sensing and Robotics (LCSR). He is the author of over 450 peer-reviewed publications and 83 patents, a Fellow of the IEEE, of the AIMBE, of the MICCAI Society, of the National Academy of Inventors and of the Engineering School of the University of Tokyo. He is also a recipient of numerous awards, including the Maurice Müller Award for Excellence in Computer-Assisted Orthopaedic Surgery the IEEE Robotics Pioneer Award, the MICCAI Society Enduring Impact Award, the IEEE EMBS Technical Field Award, and the Honda Prize.
Dr. Jan F. Veneman received his doctoral degree in 2007 from the Faculty of Engineering Technology, University of Twente, the Netherlands. Since 2018, he has been employed as Technical Project Lead in Hocoma AG, Switzerland in the field of lower extremity rehabilitation (gait and balance). He is currently Scientific and Management Committee Chair of the European wide COST Action network on Wearable Robots (CA16116 – wearablerobots.eu). He is leading the Standardization Working Group in IISART and has been closely involved as a national representative in the development of the IEC 80601-2-78 safety standard for rehabilitation robots.
Alfred Vogel is Senior Professor at the Institute of Biomedical Optics (BMO), University of Luebeck, Germany, and Deputy CEO of the Medical Laser Center Luebeck GmbH. From 2010 – 2019 he served as Director of the BMO. He received the Ph.D. degree in Physics from University Goettingen in 1987, and the degree of Habilitated Doctor of Physics from the University of Luebeck, Germany, in 1999. Since 2010 he is also Adjunct Professor of Xi’an Jiaotong University, PR China.
Dr. Vogel is fellow of the Optical Society (OSA) and of SPIE. He published 89 peer-reviewed papers, 6 book chapters, and 51 proceedings papers (12 450 citations, h = 47 according to Google Scholar; or 7350 citations, h = 36 according to ISI Web of Knowledge), and reviewed for 60 international journals and 32 institutions. He holds 15 patents and has filed another 7 patent applications. He has delivered 180 plenary, key note, and invited talks.
Dr. Vogel was editorial board member for the Journal of Biomedical Optics from 2002-2019, served as associate editor of Optics Express from 2006-2009, and is advisory editor of Biomedical Optics Express since its launching in 2010.
Dr. Vogel has made major experimental and theoretical contributions to the field of pulsed laser interactions with molecules, cells and biological tissues. He developed comprehensive theoretical frameworks for pulsed laser tissue interactions ranging from photochemical changes to ablation, and for controlled nonlinear energy deposition in transparent dielectrics. He invented new technologies for imaging and characterization of plasmas, shock waves, cavitation bubbles, and ablation plume dynamics. His research encompasses surface ablation through linear absorption of ultraviolet and infrared laser pulses, ablation processes in a liquid environment such as in blood vessels or joints, as well as plasma-mediated ablation, surgery, and molecular modifications within nominally transparent materials such as ocular tissues and cells. His work in these areas has led to innovative strategies for improving cellular micro/nano surgery, intraocular surgery, and refractive surgery.
Stefan Weber received a degree in Electrical Engineering and Automation from the University of Ilmenau (Germany) in 1998. He then joined the Robotics Lab of the University of Southern California USC as a Fulbright Fellow. He graduated with a PhD in Augmented Reality applications in medicine from the Humboldt-University in Berlin (Germany) in 2004. From 2005 to 2008 he worked as a young scientist at the Technische Universität München. From 2008 to 2012 he was assistant professor for Computer Assisted Surgery and Implantation Technology at the University of Bern. In 2012, he became full professor for Image-Guided Therapy and director of the ARTORG Center for Biomedical Engineering at the University of Bern. His research interests include fundamental and translational aspects of image guided surgery, surgical robotics and medical image analysis.
Stefan Weber is a member of the Cantonal Ethics Board.
Prof. Dr. Azhar Zam is Head of the Biomedical Laser and Optics Group (BLOG) at the Department of Biomedical Engineering (DBE), University of Basel. BLOG is devoted to laser and optical devices for biomedical applications. BLOG is part of the DBE flagship project MIRACLE (Minimally Invasive Robot-Assisted Computer-guided LaserosteotomE) and is developing a fiber-based laser with a feedback system that guarantees minimally invasive, extremely precise cuts of almost any shape in surgery.
Hans-Florian Zeilhofer has various entrepreneurial experiences and is currently involved in several MedTech start-up companies. He is a professor and since 2002 Head of the Department for Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery at the University Hospital in Basel. His research includes the use of computer-assisted 3D-methods in the surgery of the facial skull. Additionally, he is a Chief Physician at the Kantonsspital Aarau as well as Head of the Hightech Research Center of Cranio-Maxillofacial Surgery, which was established by him and has been birthplace of several successful start-up companies. Hans-Florian Zeilhofer finished his doctorates and habilitation at TU Munich.
Team Bio – VariLeg enhanced (SUI), ETH Zürich and OST University of Applied Sciences Eastern Switzerland
Speaker: Silvia Rohner
VariLeg enhanced is more than a walking device for paraplegics. "Our goal is to transfer technology from a pure racing exoskeleton into a novel, user-centric development", explains Silvia Rohner who leads the project. This program has initially been launched by ETH and OST after CYBATHLON 2016. 15 students from different fields were devoting two semesters to develop an exoskeleton in close cooperation with the two pilots. This prototype was further optimized by a team of engineers and health scientists. With a lot of training, both pilots were able to control their exoskeleton such that they mastered the whole obstacle course without failure in CYBATHLON 2020. The focus now shifted towards a more generic mobility aid, which will eventually support as many paraplegics as possible in their rehabilitation process and their everyday life.
YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJvuTvci6oaSpwofyyc-ECA
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/VariLegenhanced/
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Team – SoftHand Pro (ITA), Instituto Italiano di Tecnologia
Speaker: Manuel G. Catalano, Manuel Barbarossa, Maria R. Fossati
The active prosthesis SoftHand Pro is very soft and light, which makes it comfortable to wear. The different drives are connected by tendons, which create fluid movements and allow a flexible and adaptable grip.
SoftHand has been developed since 2012 by the team carrying the same name at the Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia and the Centro E. Piaggio of the University of Pisa. The team saw the potential for SoftHand to make a significant contribution to an underserved population and began the development of the prosthetic version of the robotic hand: the SoftHand Pro (EU funded project SoftPro). Their goal at the time was to develop a prosthesis that was robust, reliable and easy to control. recalls team manager Cristina Piazza. "As the prototype became more widely known, we received an increasing number of inquiries from people with amputations who wanted to use the hand.” As a next step, the researchers plan to integrate an active wrist to increase the versatility and possibilities of use. Moreover, the team is know involved in a European project that aims to integrate in the hand haptic feedbacks (Natural BionicS).
Website:
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/softhandpro/
Instagram: