Cybathlon 2024 – South Africa hub
Activity Organizer
Riaan Stopforth, Robotics Association of South Africa / University of KwaZulu-Natal; stopforth@ukzn.ac.za
IFAC Sponsor: South African Council for Automation and Control (IFAC NMO for South Africa)
Description
CYBATHLON 2024, which happened in Switzerland, with a hub in Durban, South Africa, is the Olympics competition of the prosthetic industry – a platform that challenges teams from all over the world to develop assistive technologies suitable for everyday use with and for people with disabilities. South Africa was represented at the international Cybathlon 2024 competition in the Arm Prosthesis category by the TOUCH PROSTHETICS HAND.
Interested school learners were invited to interact with the UKZN team and its “pilot” (prosthetic hand user and amputee) Mr Lungile Dick. Information was provided about the hand, after which learners were able to chat to the team to ask them how the hand works. They were able to see the 3D printed parts involved, the control mechanisms, and how the robotic and mechatronics integration happened. There will also be a competition where selected learners were able to perform some of the Cybathlon tasks and compete with the pilot.
John Harris, a double arm amputee, and a motivational speaker, spoke to the school learners, to motivate them when they are faced with difficulties, and to work and pursue through them.
After this school event, the actual Cybathlon event happened. The live feed was streamed to Switzerland, and they added their commentary, and broadcasted the video link worldwide. The Touch Hand team came 10th out of 16 teams around the world. The competition that was streamed to Switzerland (with the guidance of Switzerland telling our camera man what to record), can be seen at:
Qualification Race 1: https://youtu.be/1vmL30aAw0U?si=YnJMi_VyEjE0w7SL
Qualification Race 2: https://youtu.be/BzbebSoXb5U?si=sVe_aZe1lCSgT-VH
The official ARM discipline broadcast from Switzerland, with the Touch Hand team can be viewed at the link below. First qualifying race starts at 1 hour 28 minutes, and the 2nd qualifying race starts at 2 hours 01 minutes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AizvmG1oNLE
Thank you to IFAC for the support with this event. Numerous learners were able to learn what engineering is about, and how important it is to know the fundamentals to be able to control devices and systems. IFAC received numerous exposure with logos on the banners around the venue.
