Cybathlon

CYBATHLON, a project of <a href="/facts/ETH_Zurich/IxHAFGUU">ETH Zurich</a>, acts as a platform that challenges teams from all over the world to develop <a href="/facts/Assistive_technologies/xYdAXG3y">assistive technologies</a> suitable for everyday use with and for people with disabilities. The driving force behind CYBATHLON is international competitions and events, in which teams consisting of technology developers from universities, companies or NGOs and a person with disabilities (pilot) tackle unsolved everyday tasks with their latest assistive technologies. Besides the actual competition, the CYBATHLON offers a benchmarking platform to drive forward research on assistance systems for dealing with daily-life challenges, and to promote dialogue with the public for the inclusion of people with disabilities in society. The involvement of the pilot is considered essential both to the competition and in the development process, to ensure that the perspective and needs of end users are considered and addressed. 
The first CYBATHLON organised by the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (<a href="/facts/ETH_Zurich/IxHAFGUU">ETH Zurich</a>) took place in the <a href="/facts/Kolping_Arena/9aXCLfSJ">Swiss Arena</a> in <a href="/facts/Kloten/AY9IRWvB">Kloten</a> north of <a href="/facts/Zurich/dXpgq7df">Zurich</a> in <a href="/facts/Switzerland/LcGuxeTe">Switzerland</a> on 8 October 2016 and was the first international competition of this kind. 66 pilots from 25 nations competed in front of 4600 spectators.
The 2020 CYBATHLON "Global edition" took place on 13–14 November 2020. After having first been postponed due to the <a href="/facts/COVID-19_pandemic/0xTsh7Ut">COVID-19 pandemic</a> it was reorganized to take place remotely, with teams setting up the infrastructure for the competition at their home bases and with the races, overseen by Cybathlon officials, taking place via video.
CYBATHLON 2024 took place from 25 to 27 October 2024. The third edition of the CYBATHLON took place in a global format at the SWISS Arena in Kloten near Zurich and in local hubs all around the world. 67 international teams from the worlds of academia and industry competed in a unique competition.
A survey of pilots and technical leads from 2020 suggests considerable success in including pilots in a user-centered design process. Daily life usage of the new assistive technology was less frequent. Both daily life usage and prolonged user involvement were found to be related to race performance at the competition.

Cybathlon open-in-new

Cybathlon