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Powered Exoskeleton
called exoskeletons and raced to

Photo credits: Page 1: © ETH Zurich/Alessandro Della Bella; page 2:

climb stairs and navigate their motion sensors
in waist harness
way through an obstacle course.
Other events included powered
•• wheelchair and bicycle races.

Such equipment may never

crutches
be welcome in the Paralympic for balance

A Cybathlon competitor demonstrates his dexterity with a powered prosthetic arm.

Games because those athletes
must use their own muscles.
Cyborg Athletes Robotic legs might give an
athlete an unfair advantage
Since 1960, athletes with disabilities have used special in the high jump, for instance.
equipment to compete in the Paralympic Games. Among
other sports, they play wheelchair basketball and ski with The Cybathlon was much
prosthetic legs. Now, some athletes are combining their more than a sporting event. leg braces and
own strengths with those of state-of-the-art robotics in Scientists used the games to test straps for support

a new kind of competition. new ideas and technology to

show how useful this gear can An exoskeleton uses sensors
In October 2016, Switzerland held the world’s first be for anyone with a disability. and microprocessors (similar to
Cybathlon, also known as the Cyborg Olympics. Athletes a computer) to calculate how
Robotic arms could help a user plans to move, then
with disabilities used robotics to compete in various wounded soldiers return to produces that motion. Users
events. The athletes, called “pilots,” were assisted by work. Exoskeletons could help can lean forward to stand or
engineers or computer experts. In one event, called paralyzed people walk again. walk and lean backward to
Brain Runners, pilots used their brain waves to control stop and sit.
characters in a video-game race. Some people worry that
blending the human body with robotics could lead
Most events included daily tasks that can be difficult to accidents or abuses. For better or worse, though, this
for people with disabilities. For example, in the Powered gear is already in use. We may soon see examples of it
Arm Prosthesis Race, pilots without hands controlled all around us. Cyborg athletes are giving us a sneak peek
robotic arms and hands to clip clothespins and slice bread. of that future.
Pilots whose legs were paralyzed strapped into robotic suits
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