Cybathlon

:00:00. > :00:17.THEME SONG PLAYS. This week, heads, shoulders, knees, and toes. All of

:00:18. > :00:23.them bionic, all of them ready to race. This is the Cybathlon! THEME

:00:24. > :00:55.SONG PLAYS. APPLAUSE. Welcome to the Cybathlon.

:00:56. > :01:01.This is the world's first bionic Games. This is a Swiss arena in

:01:02. > :01:07.Zurich. 2500 people are getting ready to cheer on some of the most

:01:08. > :01:11.extraordinary athletes you will see this year. This is an event for

:01:12. > :01:15.those with bionic arms, motorised legs, brain controls and

:01:16. > :01:20.wheelchairs. It isn't just a challenge for the competitors who

:01:21. > :01:25.will be called pilots today, but the people who created these devices.

:01:26. > :01:30.They are awesome. This is going to be awesome. This is what the

:01:31. > :01:33.Cybathlon is all about. 66 teams from all over the globe have been

:01:34. > :01:39.designing, building, and training, for this very unique competition.

:01:40. > :01:42.Disabled athletes here known as pilots will be competing using

:01:43. > :01:47.advanced assisting devices. The Cybathalon is the brainchild

:01:48. > :01:50.of this man, Robert Reiner, a professor for sensory

:01:51. > :01:53.motor systems in Munich. It is an event for people

:01:54. > :01:55.with disabilities who are allowed to use any kind of technology,

:01:56. > :01:59.technology that helps them to better We are focusing on challenges

:02:00. > :02:05.of daily life and by allowing technology,

:02:06. > :02:07.we can also include people I am most excited about this notion

:02:08. > :02:17.that scientists and technologists spend the entire year inventing

:02:18. > :02:19.these crazy bionic limbs and everyone comes together

:02:20. > :02:28.to compete in this celebratory way. It is fantastic, it is such

:02:29. > :02:30.an extraordinary expression Each of the six disciplines

:02:31. > :02:36.will have qualifiers in the morning before the grand finals

:02:37. > :02:42.in the afternoon. Get around the course

:02:43. > :02:46.or through the obstacles in the shortest time,

:02:47. > :02:48.while incurring the lowest Well, that is what it is all

:02:49. > :02:52.about but this is where We are looking at challenges that

:02:53. > :02:58.are real day-to-day activities, something like getting

:02:59. > :03:01.through a door in a wheelchair As we move towards here we see

:03:02. > :03:08.something showing small detail. The arm prosthesis race involves

:03:09. > :03:11.being able to open a bottle, open a can, cut bread and as we head

:03:12. > :03:14.further in this direction, there are different types

:03:15. > :03:17.upon the floor and when it comes to the exoskeleton race,

:03:18. > :03:20.the leg prosthetic race and also the motorised wheelchair race,

:03:21. > :03:22.there are various challenges they have to cross over and in fact

:03:23. > :03:26.the stairs are looking like one of the real highlights

:03:27. > :03:30.to that wheelchair race. That is something I'm

:03:31. > :03:33.looking forward to seeing, they have to be able to get up

:03:34. > :03:38.and down at the end of the course Back to you, Spen, what do

:03:39. > :03:43.you have to show us? Our first event of the day

:03:44. > :03:46.is the Powered Arm Prosthesis Race, a series of tasks designed to really

:03:47. > :03:49.test those robotic digits and this is what goes

:03:50. > :03:53.into making a robotic arm. I want to break the physical

:03:54. > :03:56.barrier between the people At the end of elementary

:03:57. > :04:06.school I read a comic book I had an interest in both robotics

:04:07. > :04:17.and the medical field. This sensor can pick

:04:18. > :04:24.up my signal by pasting So this one is the flexor muscle

:04:25. > :04:37.and this one is the extended muscle and the third one

:04:38. > :04:40.is the thigh muscle. muscle and the third one

:04:41. > :04:45.is the thumb muscle. So, the competitors are using just

:04:46. > :04:48.two signals to operate this thing. The whole system can analyse

:04:49. > :04:50.the images, directly Maybe we can win

:04:51. > :05:24.because of that point. Yes, the Powered Arm Prosthesis Race

:05:25. > :05:27.is not just about power, it is also about precision

:05:28. > :05:28.and reliability. The teams need to come up

:05:29. > :05:32.with the very best ideas to help their pilot,

:05:33. > :05:34.twist and balance their way along The race is designed to test how

:05:35. > :05:42.well pilots and their prosthesis can complete tasks that would typically

:05:43. > :05:44.be challenging for them. Yes, this is the race

:05:45. > :05:47.where the mightiest tech in the world can be foiled

:05:48. > :05:54.by the humble clothes peg. I am joined by Martin Wallace

:05:55. > :05:57.from the company that are making these hands, they are carrying

:05:58. > :05:59.out some real world What is the next challenge that

:06:00. > :06:05.you feel you could reasonably The next thing is a very

:06:06. > :06:09.big technical challenge that would improve functionality

:06:10. > :06:15.in the touch sensitive nature. There is no feedback in commercially

:06:16. > :06:20.available hands for getting the signal back to the body

:06:21. > :06:24.at the moment, how hard someone is gripping something,

:06:25. > :06:29.how hot something is, all the things you get

:06:30. > :06:31.with actual fingers. Getting that technology in these

:06:32. > :06:33.hands would be ideal. What is amazing is the huge variety

:06:34. > :06:36.in designs for these prosthetic hands, some have five fingers

:06:37. > :06:40.and some only have two but as long as it does the job,

:06:41. > :06:43.you have the freedom to design The ultimate victor was a group

:06:44. > :06:51.of biomechanical engineering Together with their pilot, Bob,

:06:52. > :06:58.himself an expert in prosthetics, they went for a more established

:06:59. > :07:03.body-powered approach. This means that physical movements

:07:04. > :07:05.like reaching forward or lifting your shoulders are used

:07:06. > :07:08.to control the device. While this gold medal idea

:07:09. > :07:11.might have won the day, in the end just crossing

:07:12. > :07:14.the line was enough to send Now, as amazing as all the events

:07:15. > :07:26.are today, the next one you might think is

:07:27. > :07:32.particularly unusual, because you are not going to see any

:07:33. > :07:42.mechanics or any robotics. This is called FES, functional

:07:43. > :07:44.electric simulation, and it a bike race between two

:07:45. > :07:47.riders who are using their legs The deal is, both riders

:07:48. > :07:52.are paralysed, they cannot ordinarily move their legs

:07:53. > :07:54.and they are using electrical signals to trigger

:07:55. > :07:57.the muscles in their legs. I had a trampoline

:07:58. > :08:01.accident back in 2011. And I became what is known

:08:02. > :08:04.as tetraplegic, I have issues with moving all four limbs,

:08:05. > :08:07.my legs completely I cannot move. My arms and hands, I have

:08:08. > :08:16.difficulty moving them. Technology for disabled people

:08:17. > :08:18.is quite expensive these days, if more technology firms

:08:19. > :08:20.and universities collaborate they can make the technology more

:08:21. > :08:33.available for disabled people. To prepare for the Cybathalon I have

:08:34. > :08:37.been doing about one hour a day I have the arm cycles as well

:08:38. > :08:53.and we are not allowed to use that, so I had to do some testing to make

:08:54. > :08:58.sure that my legs are up to speed. At the minimum, I'd like to be

:08:59. > :09:01.in the top three, although I think I'm doing very well,

:09:02. > :09:05.I still do not know what is going It is not like the Paralympics

:09:06. > :09:10.where you sort of have a base rate already, it has happened before,

:09:11. > :09:14.everything is a bit in the unknown, so until we get there,

:09:15. > :09:28.who knows what will happen. Well, they wanted third or better

:09:29. > :09:32.and his wish came true. He was second fastest

:09:33. > :09:34.of all the qualifiers which placed him in the final

:09:35. > :09:37.showdown against Mark Moon As the heat continued,

:09:38. > :09:48.you can see that timing was everything, if the electrical

:09:49. > :09:50.pulses do not fire at the right time, you can end up

:09:51. > :09:53.pedalling backwards. Another thing that became clear,

:09:54. > :09:56.this is a physically exhausting event and that is actually a good

:09:57. > :09:59.thing, as the creator of the bike Normally, people with spinal injury,

:10:00. > :10:06.they have wasted muscles, One guy here with more

:10:07. > :10:16.muscles than I have. There are two different techniques

:10:17. > :10:19.of FES that we have heard of, one that you stick the electrodes

:10:20. > :10:22.on the skin but some teams are actually implanting

:10:23. > :10:26.the electrodes in the legs. We only use adhesive

:10:27. > :10:28.electrodes or shorts, we made shorts with electrodes

:10:29. > :10:31.on, you put them on, but they implanted it,

:10:32. > :10:35.the Americans implanted it. It is a little bit better

:10:36. > :10:38.for racing performance, but most of them do not want it,

:10:39. > :10:41.it is very expensive, if it gives trouble and they have

:10:42. > :10:46.in the past, you have to take it out This can just be used by any person

:10:47. > :10:58.with a spinal injury almost. And, the race was against

:10:59. > :11:00.an American with implants that Johnny found himself

:11:01. > :11:04.in the grand final. And after a monumental

:11:05. > :11:10.effort from both pilots, it was Mark Moon who

:11:11. > :11:12.beat Johnny to win. You look seriously focused there,

:11:13. > :11:15.how did it feel for you? It felt amazing, going really fast,

:11:16. > :11:19.I thought I was going to beat him, Went too high and had a bit

:11:20. > :11:24.of a reverse effect. You still did an absolutely great

:11:25. > :11:29.job, do you feel exhausted? I have been training

:11:30. > :11:34.a lot beforehand. I have had the bike a long

:11:35. > :11:37.time and it has been a great piece of kit,

:11:38. > :11:49.but training for here, tech check yesterday,

:11:50. > :11:51.five in the morning woke up, ten hours yesterday on the bike,

:11:52. > :11:55.setting everything up and today, The training for Cybathalon

:11:56. > :12:05.certainly seems as intense as any athletics event and how

:12:06. > :12:12.about this for focus? These pilots have complete or severe

:12:13. > :12:15.loss of moter function and are using a brain controlled

:12:16. > :12:19.interface to take part in a virtual The key is to generate the right

:12:20. > :12:23.sort of signals in your brain to make the right sort of moves

:12:24. > :12:30.and avoid the obstacles and ultimately it was the Swiss team

:12:31. > :12:33.but stormed to victory. Powered leg prosthesis remain one

:12:34. > :12:43.of the most well known prosthesis He pilots and navigates obstacles

:12:44. > :12:49.which seem easy to those with two legs but are really tough

:12:50. > :12:53.for traditional prosthetics and it was a contender

:12:54. > :12:55.from Iceland's Rio Knee Now, 30 years ago Sigourney Weaver

:12:56. > :13:08.picked up an alien Queen and lobbed her out of the air lock

:13:09. > :13:12.of her spaceship using a powered exoskeleton suit, one of the sci-fi

:13:13. > :13:15.highlights of my life. Now, admittedly, we are not quite

:13:16. > :13:18.there with the technology in reality yet, but today's final event

:13:19. > :13:21.showcases just how far we have, So we thought the exoskeleton

:13:22. > :13:39.is like a robot that has We basically got three motors,

:13:40. > :13:43.one is positioned here which does the hip motion

:13:44. > :13:46.or how big that it moves, the second one is there,

:13:47. > :13:48.the one for the shank There is the third one,

:13:49. > :13:54.this motor says how stiff It is basically the computer

:13:55. > :14:05.or the brain of the exoskeleton where all motions are

:14:06. > :14:14.saved and recalculated. There is always the possibility that

:14:15. > :14:20.something gets unplugged, We are quite confident

:14:21. > :14:24.that this will not happen. It is interesting to see how

:14:25. > :14:27.they compete against us and how they perform, that is what I am

:14:28. > :14:34.most excited about. We are like the underdogs,

:14:35. > :14:37.we only had two years of developing and five months of training

:14:38. > :14:40.and there are devices that have been developed for ten years and a pilot

:14:41. > :14:45.is training for four years. It would have been unrealistic

:14:46. > :14:48.to think we could win. I think we can give a good

:14:49. > :15:10.performance anyway. Well, they may not have had the time

:15:11. > :15:14.they wanted to prepare The team narrowly missed out

:15:15. > :15:19.on a place in the grand final but with a combination of nimble

:15:20. > :15:22.footwork and sheer perseverance, they won the competition's B final

:15:23. > :15:26.and finished fifth overall. The final was tense

:15:27. > :15:29.boiling down to a showdown Like the powered arm race,

:15:30. > :15:37.the course is made up of obstacles that people with limited movement

:15:38. > :15:39.can face in everyday life. Sitting down and getting up

:15:40. > :15:45.is tough, even in an exosuit. These pilots have complete leg

:15:46. > :15:49.paralysis meaning it was down to the suits to tackle the ramp

:15:50. > :15:54.and the uneven ground. In the end the USA looked

:15:55. > :15:57.to have a slight lead but a malfunction allowed the German

:15:58. > :16:02.pilot to gain the upper hand. Coming down the stairs

:16:03. > :16:06.it was neck and neck, a matter of who could complete

:16:07. > :16:09.those vital final few steps and by a whisker,

:16:10. > :16:15.Germany took the gold. You can see it was exhausting

:16:16. > :16:17.and after the medal ceremony we caught up with our old friends

:16:18. > :16:21.to see how they found Very exhausting, like climbing

:16:22. > :16:28.a mountain or running But it is very nice to be part

:16:29. > :16:35.of this event and I am very Tell me about the suit? Is it

:16:36. > :16:52.difficult to operate? You have to handle the steps,

:16:53. > :16:55.it keeps your mind in a good condition that you do not press

:16:56. > :16:59.the wrong ones and on top, you get tired more and more,

:17:00. > :17:02.it is altogether a big challenge. How was that moment for you,

:17:03. > :17:05.the first time you took Practising and training

:17:06. > :17:10.for me has nothing to do with how I am walking again,

:17:11. > :17:14.being back in the situation, So far, it is more like

:17:15. > :17:26.a work-out for me and a joy. Next up is the powered wheelchair

:17:27. > :17:29.race, which amongst other things sees them have to get up these

:17:30. > :17:33.steps, go across there and then Spencer, I believe you have a bit

:17:34. > :17:39.of history with one of these teams. I met up with one of the teams

:17:40. > :17:43.earlier in the year and tried out one of their very early prototypes

:17:44. > :17:46.in wheelchairs and as the internet However they are here and I caught

:17:47. > :17:51.up with them yesterday and their wheelchair looks even more

:17:52. > :17:54.impressive and it does work. They are in one of the heats

:17:55. > :17:57.taking place down there, so I have got everything

:17:58. > :17:59.crossed for them. And on the start line,

:18:00. > :18:10.the pilot looked confident. The problem is that the team are not

:18:11. > :18:25.allowed to intervene or help without

:18:26. > :18:27.getting disqualified, which meant as the race went on,

:18:28. > :18:39.they were left at the start. The only thing, it shut down

:18:40. > :18:49.the connection between the phone I could not do anything,

:18:50. > :18:56.the wheelchair, now it is working perfectly, but it is like any car

:18:57. > :19:00.engine, you have to press The problem was that they were stuck

:19:01. > :19:08.we could not do anything. I'm so sorry, I have seen this

:19:09. > :19:12.in action and I know The wheelchair final was a much

:19:13. > :19:49.closer run thing for the four finalists and again you can

:19:50. > :19:52.really see the variety The Hong Kong team went for these

:19:53. > :19:58.caterpillar tracks which made short That is not a wheelchair,

:19:59. > :20:08.that is a wheeltank! But that lack of suspension really

:20:09. > :20:12.gave the pilot a rocky ride And balance was the big

:20:13. > :20:17.issue as these chairs Really the climax of the event,

:20:18. > :20:23.with three pilots all reaching As the Hong Kong pilot had to once

:20:24. > :20:29.again be thrown about, Florian Hauser showed off a clever

:20:30. > :20:33.weight lifting feature of the Swiss chair, which ensured

:20:34. > :20:46.that he did not topple over. In fact, these stairs proved to be

:20:47. > :20:50.the crucial decider. It was a nail-biting finish that

:20:51. > :20:53.had the whole crowd, In the final seconds,

:20:54. > :21:02.the Swiss team came from third place to beat Hong Kong

:21:03. > :21:33.by just five seconds. It was a great feeling. We trained

:21:34. > :21:34.so much and it was also well. I don't know.

:21:35. > :21:37.Is it exhausting and does it take a lot of concentration?

:21:38. > :21:41.Yes, because I was nervous at the start, I think at the start,

:21:42. > :21:46.It is like the Mars Rover, it does not matter what kind

:21:47. > :21:58.You have done a lot of training and each wheel chair has its own special

:21:59. > :22:02.feature. Can you tell me through some of the highlights of what you

:22:03. > :22:10.have here? First, that is my steering. That is my programme that

:22:11. > :22:20.I have. That is the part of my seat so it depends on the level of the

:22:21. > :22:24.wheelchair. Would this be plausible to using day-to-day life or does it

:22:25. > :22:31.need more development? It is a perfect type. It had to go smaller,

:22:32. > :22:35.shorter but it is the right way. You begin with a prototype and then you

:22:36. > :22:38.adapted. I think in the future it will be, it will be a part of

:22:39. > :22:38.everyday. And that is it from

:22:39. > :22:40.the very first Cybathalon. It has, it has been a day filled

:22:41. > :22:45.with genuine warmth and enthusiasm. Listen to that and the crowd has

:22:46. > :22:49.made as much noise for the people coming last as they have

:22:50. > :22:52.for the people coming first, sometimes more noise for the person

:22:53. > :22:55.who crossed the line last. The other thing I noticed

:22:56. > :22:57.is that every competitor has finished the race,

:22:58. > :23:01.even if they know they have not won, even if they have known they have

:23:02. > :23:04.lost, there is no point, It is about going the distance

:23:05. > :23:08.and pushing this technology The thing is we often say

:23:09. > :23:13.it is the taking part, not the winning that matters,

:23:14. > :23:16.and we do not mean it. I think today, it is

:23:17. > :23:19.genuinely the case. I hope you have enjoyed it and found

:23:20. > :23:23.it as fascinating as we have.