{"id":14273,"date":"2025-10-21T15:12:10","date_gmt":"2025-10-21T13:12:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swisswuff.ch\/tech\/?p=14273"},"modified":"2026-10-21T15:32:10","modified_gmt":"2026-10-21T13:32:10","slug":"cybathlon-review-impact-on-commercially-available-prosthetic-arm-technology-tldr-zero","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swisswuff.ch\/tech\/?p=14273","title":{"rendered":"Cybathlon Review &#8211; impact on commercially available prosthetic arm technology [TL;DR: ]"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_89 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-grey ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"ez-toc-pull-right ez-toc-btn ez-toc-btn-xs ez-toc-btn-default ez-toc-toggle\" aria-label=\"Toggle Table of Content\"><span class=\"ez-toc-js-icon-con\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-1'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/www.swisswuff.ch\/tech\/?p=14273\/#1_The_2016_and_2020_%E2%80%9CSurprise%E2%80%9D_Moments\" >1. The 2016 and 2020 &#8220;Surprise&#8221; Moments<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-1'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/www.swisswuff.ch\/tech\/?p=14273\/#2_Overfitting_to_the_Obstacle_Course_%E2%80%9CParcours_Engineering%E2%80%9D\" >2. Overfitting to the Obstacle Course (&#8220;Parcours Engineering&#8221;)<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-1'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/www.swisswuff.ch\/tech\/?p=14273\/#3_Ignoring_the_True_Causes_of_Clinical_Abandonment\" >3. Ignoring the True Causes of Clinical Abandonment<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-1'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/www.swisswuff.ch\/tech\/?p=14273\/#4_The_Commercial_Market_Is_Driven_by_Reimbursement_Not_Trophies\" >4. The Commercial Market Is Driven by Reimbursement, Not Trophies<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-1'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-5\" href=\"https:\/\/www.swisswuff.ch\/tech\/?p=14273\/#5_What_the_Cybathlon_Actually_Accomplishes\" >5. What the Cybathlon Actually Accomplishes<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-1'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-6\" href=\"https:\/\/www.swisswuff.ch\/tech\/?p=14273\/#Outlook\" >Outlook<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-2' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-7\" href=\"https:\/\/www.swisswuff.ch\/tech\/?p=14273\/#List_of_things_to_consider_next_time\" >List of things to consider next time<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h1 data-path-to-node=\"4\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"1_The_2016_and_2020_%E2%80%9CSurprise%E2%80%9D_Moments\"><\/span>1. The 2016 and 2020 &#8220;Surprise&#8221; Moments<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h1>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"5\">\n<p data-path-to-node=\"5\">The Cybathlon in its early planning stages was explicitly planned to make myoelectric prostheses look good and to make body powered prostheses look bad [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.swisswuff.ch\/tech\/?p=2457\">link<\/a>], whereas the inclusion of body powered prostheses was not a given from the get go, but it was later approved, after I had suggested to also allow body powered arms to the organizer, Professor Riener at the ETH.<\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"5\">While the actual event and race preparations and instances were one thing, the chatter and innuendos were another: the organisers had one marketing lady try to work me some 45 minutes on the telephone to stand in at their<a href=\"https:\/\/www.swisswuff.ch\/tech\/?p=5521\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> Cybathlon accompanying exhibition that they called &#8220;from Captain Hook to Iron Man&#8221;<\/a>, and for me to seemingly serve as human cripple exhibit for people to stare at what they wished to portray as totally defunct outdated and rusty old technology.<\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"5\">Only, that backfired, too.<\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"5\">The first two editions of the Cybathlon Powered Arm Prosthesis Race exposed a glaring truth that the multi-million-franc bionics industry and multi-million-euro research funding projects still refuse to confront: <b data-path-to-node=\"5\" data-index-in-node=\"165\">direct mechanical proprioception and simplicity beat complex mechatronics<\/b>.<\/p>\n<ul data-path-to-node=\"6\">\n<li>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"6,0,0\"><b data-path-to-node=\"6,0,0\" data-index-in-node=\"0\">2016 (TRS Grip Prehensor):<\/b> In the inaugural race, university labs and commercial R&amp;D teams brought multi-articulated myoelectric hands packed with microprocessors and complex grip-pattern algorithms. They were all defeated by <strong>Bob Radocy (Team Dipo Power) using a purely mechanical, cable-driven, body-powered TRS Grip Prehensor<\/strong>\u2014a design conceptually unchanged since the mid-20th century. Because the cable was harnessed to his shoulder, Radocy had direct mechanical force feedback (extended physiological proprioception) and instantaneous speed, completing all six tasks without a single failure. Chewing gum and not in any way apparently hurried, he reached a maximum point score as only participant.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"6,1,0\"><b data-path-to-node=\"6,1,0\" data-index-in-node=\"0\">The Rule Change &amp; The 2020 Backfire (Maker Hand):<\/b> Following 2016, the Cybathlon rules were adjusted to include tasks like the blind &#8220;Haptic Bag&#8221; (identifying shapes and materials inside a closed box without visual feedback), <em>widely expected to eliminate mechanical body-powered arms and mandate complex electronic tactile sensors<\/em>. Instead and to the great shock of the organisers, <b data-path-to-node=\"6,1,0\" data-index-in-node=\"340\">Andrej \u0110uki\u0107\u2019s Team Maker Hand<\/b> (piloted by Krunoslav Mihi\u0107) won the 2020 gold medal using a purely body-powered, very cheap 3D-printed mechanical hand actuated by a bicycle brake cable and elastic bands, apparentlyt after just around 30 h of training. Because tension in a Bowden cable transmits vibrations and resistance directly to the user&#8217;s shoulder blades, a mechanical cable <i data-path-to-node=\"6,1,0\" data-index-in-node=\"662\">already provides<\/i> superior haptic feedback compared to laggy electronic vibrotactile or electrotactile arrays. Which is well known among those that wear useful and comfortable body-powered prosthetic arms regularly if not every day.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"6,2,0\"><b data-path-to-node=\"6,2,0\" data-index-in-node=\"0\">2024 (Hybrid Course-Engineering):<\/b> Even by 2024, the winning team (<i data-path-to-node=\"6,2,0\" data-index-in-node=\"66\">HandsOn<\/i>, Southeast University, Nanjing) only won by building a <i data-path-to-node=\"6,2,0\" data-index-in-node=\"129\">hybrid<\/i> prosthesis\u2014blending body-powered cable actuation with motorized elements specifically tailored to the competition&#8217;s rulebook.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"7\">In short, across three editions spanning eight years, <b data-path-to-node=\"7\" data-index-in-node=\"54\">a pure myoelectric commercial-style bionic hand has never won the Cybathlon.<\/b><\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"7\">Yet the commercial industry and orthopedic clinics continue to market multi-articulating myoelectric hands as the pinnacle of rehabilitation, while treating body-powered cable systems as obsolete relics.<\/p>\n<h1 data-path-to-node=\"9\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"2_Overfitting_to_the_Obstacle_Course_%E2%80%9CParcours_Engineering%E2%80%9D\"><\/span>2. Overfitting to the Obstacle Course (&#8220;Parcours Engineering&#8221;)<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h1>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"10\">To compete at the Cybathlon, academic teams do not build better everyday prostheses; they build specialized <b data-path-to-node=\"10\" data-index-in-node=\"108\">Cybathlon-beating machines<\/b>.<\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"11\">Because the tasks (hanging laundry, the wire-loop test, stacking cups, the haptic box) are published years in advance, university teams engage in severe engineering overfitting:<\/p>\n<ul data-path-to-node=\"12\">\n<li>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"12,0,0\"><b data-path-to-node=\"12,0,0\" data-index-in-node=\"0\">Task-Specific Geometries:<\/b> Look at the 2024 winning team, <i data-path-to-node=\"12,0,0\" data-index-in-node=\"57\">HandsOn<\/i>. As detailed in their post-competition engineering literature, their strategy relied on modifying fingertip geometries specifically for the exact dimensions of the known competition objects, reaching only Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 2\u20133.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"12,1,0\"><b data-path-to-node=\"12,1,0\" data-index-in-node=\"0\">Compensatory Trickery:<\/b> Top academic teams routinely utilize onboard computer vision cameras, external inertial measurement units (IMUs), and off-board battery\/compute packs to bypass the inherent unreliability of standard surface EMG.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p id=\"p-rc_c324963f084f61a3-36\" data-path-to-node=\"12,2,0\"><b data-path-to-node=\"12,2,0\" data-index-in-node=\"0\">Athletic Pilot Drilling:<\/b> <span class=\"citation-30 citation-end-30\">Pilots train for up to 20 hours a week prior to the race on exact replicas of the official Cybathlon tables and props, rehearsing sequences to shave seconds off the clock.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"10\">This becomes even more apparent when reading texts written after the fact:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li data-path-to-node=\"10\">From <em>Hu X, Guo F, Wei Z, Chen D, Dai J, Li A, Zhang S, Orban M, Tong Y, Hu C, Xu B. Handson hand: strategies and approaches for competitive success at Cybathlon 2024. Bioengineering. 2025 Feb 24;12(3):228<\/em> [<a class=\"papercite_bibcite\" href=\"#paperkey_0\">1<\/a>]: &#8220;According to the rules, certain tools used in the competition were marked in blue, indicating that they must be manipulated exclusively with the prosthetic device.&#8221; (&#8230;) &#8220;To overcome these challenges, it was essential to address numerous technical difficulties related to the prosthetic hand while also incorporating user-centered design principles.&#8221; (&#8230;) &#8220;Specifically, we established the following technical criteria to enhance the pilot\u2019s performance: (a) Prosthesis Weight Under 1 kg: Reducing the weight minimized user fatigue and helped prevent misoperations caused by changes in surface electromyograph (sEMG) signal characteristics. Moreover, lower inertia in the prosthetic device enabled smoother and more precise control during operation. (b) Active Wrist Rotation and Passive Wrist Flexion: These features addressed tasks requiring wrist mobility, such as twisting a light bulb or stacking cups. (c) Maximum Grip Force &gt; 80 N: Ensured that the prosthesis could handle high-load tasks in the competition, such as hammering nails or pulling out pins. (d) Object Shape\/Stiffness Recognition Rate \u2265 85%: Enabled effective completion of the \u201cHaptic Bag\u201d task.&#8221; And from <em>Hu X, Song A, Xu M. Arm prosthesis with dexterous control and sensory feedback delivers winning performance at Cybathlon. Science Robotics. 2025 Sep 17;10(106):eaea9377<\/em>[<a class=\"papercite_bibcite\" href=\"#paperkey_1\">2<\/a>]: &#8220;Through relentless dedication to every task detail, our team became the only competitor to successfully complete the haptic bag task at Cybathlon 2024. Despite formidable pressure from other teams, Xu maintained exceptional composure, achieving superior task execution with minimal errors. Upon crossing the finish line, Xu reflected that this decisive moment validated the entire 2-year preparation.&#8221; &#8211; So in other words, rather than providing a general everyday real life enhancing device, that academic team and their amputee pilot were motivated to totally overfit the design and performance delivery to maximize obstacle course work.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"13\">Meanwhile, Andrej \u0110uki\u0107\u2019s 2020 Maker Hand proved the exact opposite point from the grassroots side: a seemingly lone designer with a cheap FDM printer, hairbands, and a bicycle brake cable with a friend that spent apparently not more than 30h of training beat all of the competing premier robotics institutes.<\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"13\">Yet neither the academic over-engineered prototypes <em>nor<\/em> open-source 3D-printed maker hands cross over into the certified commercial market. I had called the whole attempt of Cybathlon a &#8220;circus&#8221; from the get go, and by way of definitions in the significance domain of a circus, including terms such as &#8220;one trick pony&#8221;, a current look back confirms that. The choice was theirs all along and they chose &#8220;circus&#8221;, rather than curating a setup for sustainable research and development. With that focus on the &#8220;circus&#8221; aspects in their proper meaning by the organizers clearly distracted everyone from what in a more social and financially responsible setup could have been achieved.<\/p>\n<h1 data-path-to-node=\"15\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"3_Ignoring_the_True_Causes_of_Clinical_Abandonment\"><\/span>3. Ignoring the True Causes of Clinical Abandonment<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h1>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"16\">Upper-limb prosthetics suffer from notoriously high clinical abandonment rates\u2014consistently cited between <b data-path-to-node=\"16\" data-index-in-node=\"106\">20% and 40%<\/b> for myoelectric devices. The rate needs to be supplemented with the<strong> rate of non-users<\/strong>, people that\u00a0 never considered or that applied but did not get approved for such a device. From random street and event encounters over the years, my estimate for people that by way of their anatomy would be a candidate for but either reject or otherwise do not use a prosthetic arm that rate is around <strong>80-90%<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"16\">When amputees leave their expensive bionic hands in a drawer, it is almost never because the hand couldn&#8217;t perform a 12-degree-of-freedom pinch. They abandon them for reasons the Cybathlon format <em>completely masks<\/em>:<\/p>\n<table data-path-to-node=\"17\">\n<thead>\n<tr>\n<td><strong>Real-World Clinical Bottleneck<\/strong><\/td>\n<td><strong>Commercial Market Reality<\/strong><\/td>\n<td><strong>Cybathlon Race Reality<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td><span data-path-to-node=\"17,1,0,0\"><b data-path-to-node=\"17,1,0,0\" data-index-in-node=\"0\">Distal Weight &amp; Torque<\/b><\/span><\/td>\n<td><span data-path-to-node=\"17,1,1,0\">Every extra 50 grams at the end of a forearm lever causes severe socket discomfort, sweating, and shoulder fatigue over a 12-hour day, 7 day week, 365 day year [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.swisswuff.ch\/tech\/?p=256\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">link<\/a>].<\/span><\/td>\n<td><span data-path-to-node=\"17,1,2,0\">Pilots only need to endure the weight of a heavy mechatronic prosthesis for an 8-minute sprint. Before that, only for training sessions.\u00a0<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><span data-path-to-node=\"17,2,0,0\"><b data-path-to-node=\"17,2,0,0\" data-index-in-node=\"0\">Socket Fit &amp; EMG Degradation<\/b><\/span><\/td>\n<td><span data-path-to-node=\"17,2,1,0\">Sweat, stump volume fluctuations, and electrode liftoff ruin myoelectric control after a few hours of daily wear. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-path-to-node=\"17,2,1,0\">Large bruises and abrasions after a single day of light office work during a lifetime of significant disability [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.swisswuff.ch\/tech\/?p=2979\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">link<\/a>].\u00a0<\/span><\/td>\n<td><span data-path-to-node=\"17,2,2,0\">Freshly donned sockets in a climate-controlled arena for a single 6-to-8-minute run.<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><span data-path-to-node=\"17,3,0,0\"><b data-path-to-node=\"17,3,0,0\" data-index-in-node=\"0\">Durability &amp; Contaminant Resistance<\/b><\/span><\/td>\n<td><span data-path-to-node=\"17,3,1,0\">Commercial grippers (e.g., Ottobock System Electric Greifer, Hosmer hooks) must survive dirt, water, grease, and high impact forces for years.<\/span><\/td>\n<td><span data-path-to-node=\"17,3,2,0\">Fragile 3D-printed fingers, exposed linkages, and delicate sensors, fragile electronics, maintained by a stand by or always present pit crew right up to the starting line.<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><span data-path-to-node=\"17,4,0,0\"><b data-path-to-node=\"17,4,0,0\" data-index-in-node=\"0\">Cognitive Load<\/b><\/span><\/td>\n<td><span data-path-to-node=\"17,4,1,0\">Users reject myoelectric hands that require constant visual attention and mode-switching and that exhibit a really high control error rate [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.swisswuff.ch\/tech\/?p=9244\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">progress<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.swisswuff.ch\/tech\/?p=11986\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">cost<\/a>], just to grab a coffee mug\u2014which is why body-powered hooks and hands (like Radocy&#8217;s and \u0110uki\u0107&#8217;s) remain faster and more intuitive.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>See e.g. &#8220;Bad Hand Day&#8221; reports [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.swisswuff.ch\/tech\/?cat=191\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">link<\/a>].<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/td>\n<td><span data-path-to-node=\"17,4,2,0\">High frustration and drop rates \/ failure rates in myoelectric prototypes is masked by months of repetitive athletic drill training on a fixed sequence of 6\u20138 tasks.<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<h1 data-path-to-node=\"19\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"4_The_Commercial_Market_Is_Driven_by_Reimbursement_Not_Trophies\"><\/span>4. The Commercial Market Is Driven by Reimbursement, Not Trophies<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h1>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"20\">If you examine the commercial catalogs of major manufacturers\u2014<b data-path-to-node=\"20\" data-index-in-node=\"61\">Ottobock<\/b> (bebionic, Michelangelo, Greifer), <b data-path-to-node=\"20\" data-index-in-node=\"105\">\u00d6ssur<\/b> (i-Limb), <b data-path-to-node=\"20\" data-index-in-node=\"121\">Taska Prosthetics<\/b> (Taska Hand), <b data-path-to-node=\"20\" data-index-in-node=\"153\">Covvi<\/b>, or <b data-path-to-node=\"20\" data-index-in-node=\"163\">Psyonic<\/b> (Ability Hand)\u2014their product roadmaps over the past decade were driven by market forces completely insulated from the Cybathlon:<\/p>\n<ol start=\"1\" data-path-to-node=\"21\">\n<li>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"21,0,0\"><b data-path-to-node=\"21,0,0\" data-index-in-node=\"0\">A Shift to Waterproof Ruggedness:<\/b> The single biggest commercial innovation in multi-articulating hands over the last decade was the <b data-path-to-node=\"21,0,0\" data-index-in-node=\"134\">Taska Hand<\/b>, which succeeded in clinics, not by adding Cybathlon-style obstacle features, but by being the first waterproof, impact-absorbing, heavy-duty bionic hand that didn&#8217;t require too many constant repair returns.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"21,1,0\"><b data-path-to-node=\"21,1,0\" data-index-in-node=\"0\">Regulatory &amp; Tariff Barriers:<\/b> Bringing a medical device to market under the EU MDR or US FDA, and securing health\/accident insurance reimbursement codes (such as SUVA\/IV tariffs in Switzerland or statutory health insurance tariffs in Germany), costs millions and prevents both complex academic prototypes and uncertified open-source maker projects (like Maker Hand, which \u0110uki\u0107 explicitly designed as a free, non-commercial volunteer project) from entering standard orthopedic supply chains. These manufacturers seem to try their darnedest to make it appear as if they followed CE marking legal requirements [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.swisswuff.ch\/tech\/?p=12767\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">triple swivel<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.swisswuff.ch\/tech\/?p=7749\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">CE<\/a>].<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"21,2,0\"><b data-path-to-node=\"21,2,0\" data-index-in-node=\"0\">Why Commercial Manufacturers Ignore Body-Powered Innovations:<\/b> Even though 2016 and 2020 proved that body-powered cable systems outperform myoelectric hands in speed, reliability, and haptic feedback, orthopedic technicians and manufacturers have little financial incentive to innovate in low-cost mechanical cable arms when billing reimbursement for a myoelectric fitting is vastly more lucrative.<\/p>\n<p>Also, the demanding user that provides hard loading to their prosthesis will not tolerate or deal well with failure, leave alone with constant failure, and not accept getting dismissed or whatever other treatment the prosthetic clinic has in store for them. Conversely, the amputee that has resigned to only do light work or activities will also be more happily able to do that when the prosthesis again is defect for a few weeks. There are good business reasons to treat arm amputees like that. I find these quite cynical but that is just me.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h1 data-path-to-node=\"23\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"5_What_the_Cybathlon_Actually_Accomplishes\"><\/span>5. What the Cybathlon <i data-path-to-node=\"23\" data-index-in-node=\"22\">Actually<\/i> Accomplishes<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h1>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"24\">Viewing the Cybathlon as an industrial catalyst for commercial prosthetics <em>mistakes its true function<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"24\">Its actual impact lies entirely outside the commercial or user domain, which is also evidenced by the choice of board and executive members [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.swisswuff.ch\/tech\/?p=13047\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">link<\/a>]:<\/p>\n<ul data-path-to-node=\"25\">\n<li>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"25,0,0\"><b data-path-to-node=\"25,0,0\" data-index-in-node=\"0\">Academic Grant Justification:<\/b> It gives university robotics labs a high-profile, gamified benchmark to justify further national science foundation grants and publish papers, regardless of whether the resulting hardware ever reaches a clinic. Recent projects show that the academic research subject choices remain undeterred and constantly far from user needs.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"25,1,0\"><b data-path-to-node=\"25,1,0\" data-index-in-node=\"0\">Unintentional Defacing at the Expense of Bionic Hype:<\/b> Paradoxically, the greatest actual public service of the Cybathlon was watching a 67-year-old with a standard mechanical hook in 2016\u2014and a Croatian pilot with a 200-franc 3D-printed bicycle-cable hand in 2020\u2014comprehensively humiliate millions of francs of state-of-the-art academic myoelectric robotics. It stripped away the &#8220;Luke Skywalker \/ Iron Man&#8221; sci-fi marketing pushed by bionic hand manufacturers.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h1 data-path-to-node=\"26\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Outlook\"><\/span>Outlook<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h1>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"26\">Despite exposing the organizers&#8217; wrongly placed bias twice in a row (2016 and 2020), the commercial prosthetic market simply shrugged and kept selling the exact same devices.<\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"26\">This conclusion remains watertight: there was no visible Cybathlon derived impact on commercial prosthetic hands and grippers. And none of my friends and colleagues, across all these years, ever had any idea what the Cybathlon was, and I do work in a place where a lot of events are advertised, where a lot of technology is considered or examined. But when I talked about that, blank look on their faces. So much of reaching a wider population turned out not to be something I was able to confirm from my own perspective across most friends and colleagues.<\/p>\n<h2 data-path-to-node=\"26\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"List_of_things_to_consider_next_time\"><\/span>List of things to consider next time<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Next one around, one could consider a few new aspects.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Compare performance of same individual without and with a range of previously adopted, fitted and trained devices.<\/li>\n<li>Do qualitative scoring for relevant tasks, don&#8217;t obsess over time limits.<\/li>\n<li>Chill about some of these more unrealistic or useless tasks, no one uses a prosthetic arm to e.g. manipulate light bulbs [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.swisswuff.ch\/tech\/?p=8315\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">link<\/a>]. And jar lids are neither quality accreditable regarding torque nor are they a fair object for competitions. They are a usefully interesting object to try things out and test things, individually and anecdotally, as no one expects the next glass of cucumbers in vinegar no one can ever open.<\/li>\n<li>Include sweating and physical strain, such as riding bicycle, possibly rock climbing, tool work, and so on.<\/li>\n<li>Take the event seriously as organiser, so what I mean by that is that a scientific event such as Cybathlon should probably be registered and conducted as clinical trial, also forcing organizers to do device and safety checks and not go about it as if things work out by themselves, because they may not [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.swisswuff.ch\/tech\/?p=13665\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">link<\/a>].<\/li>\n<li>Wrong gripper angles are a real thing [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.swisswuff.ch\/tech\/?p=9322\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">link<\/a>], so do 4 registration marker video tracking, full success\/failure analysis and so on and so forth.<\/li>\n<li>Measure grip and pull strength that a prosthetic gripper and arm can employ versus various object shapes and surfaces, possibly with a force measuring device.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"26\">\n<div id=\"paperkey_0\" class=\"papercite_entry\">[1]                   X. Hu, F. Guo, Z. Wei, D. Chen, J. Dai, A. Li, S. Zhang, M. Orban, Y. Tong, C. Hu, and others, &#8220;Handson hand: strategies and approaches for competitive success at Cybathlon 2024,&#8221; <span style=\"font-style: italic\">Bioengineering<\/span>, vol. 12, iss. 3, p. 228, 2025. <br \/>    <a href=\"javascript:void(0)\" id=\"papercite_0\" class=\"papercite_toggle\">[Bibtex]<\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"papercite_bibtex\" id=\"papercite_0_block\">\n<pre><code class=\"tex bibtex\">@article{hu2025handson,\r\n  title={Handson hand: strategies and approaches for competitive success at Cybathlon 2024},\r\n  author={Hu, Xuhui and Guo, Fengkai and Wei, Zhikai and Chen, Dapeng and Dai, Junfa and Li, Anran and Zhang, Senhao and Orban, Mostafa and Tong, Yao and Hu, Cong and others},\r\n  journal={Bioengineering},\r\n  volume={12},\r\n  number={3},\r\n  pages={228},\r\n  year={2025},\r\n  publisher={MDPI}\r\n}<\/code><\/pre>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"paperkey_1\" class=\"papercite_entry\">[2]                   X. Hu, A. Song, and M. Xu, &#8220;Arm prosthesis with dexterous control and sensory feedback delivers winning performance at Cybathlon,&#8221; <span style=\"font-style: italic\">Science Robotics<\/span>, vol. 10, iss. 106, p. eaea9377, 2025. <br \/>    <a href=\"javascript:void(0)\" id=\"papercite_1\" class=\"papercite_toggle\">[Bibtex]<\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"papercite_bibtex\" id=\"papercite_1_block\">\n<pre><code class=\"tex bibtex\">@article{hu2025arm,\r\n  title={Arm prosthesis with dexterous control and sensory feedback delivers winning performance at Cybathlon},\r\n  author={Hu, Xuhui and Song, Aiguo and Xu, Min},\r\n  journal={Science Robotics},\r\n  volume={10},\r\n  number={106},\r\n  pages={eaea9377},\r\n  year={2025},\r\n  publisher={American Association for the Advancement of Science}\r\n}<\/code><\/pre>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"twitter-share\"><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?via=swisswuff\" class=\"twitter-share-button\" data-size=\"large\">Tweet<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>1. The 2016 and 2020 &#8220;Surprise&#8221; Moments The Cybathlon in its early planning stages was explicitly planned to make myoelectric prostheses look good and to make body powered prostheses look bad [link], whereas the inclusion of body powered prostheses was not a given from the get go, but it was later approved, after I had&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13730,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[172,199,231,331,28,100,117,8,61,52,190],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14273","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academic-project","category-cybathlon-2016","category-cybathlon-2020","category-cybathlon-2024","category-disability-public","category-impact-on-nondisabled","category-objectification","category-prosthetics","category-specifications-comparisons","category-stigmatization","category-symbolism","wpcat-172-id","wpcat-199-id","wpcat-231-id","wpcat-331-id","wpcat-28-id","wpcat-100-id","wpcat-117-id","wpcat-8-id","wpcat-61-id","wpcat-52-id","wpcat-190-id"],"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swisswuff.ch\/tech\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14273","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swisswuff.ch\/tech\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swisswuff.ch\/tech\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swisswuff.ch\/tech\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swisswuff.ch\/tech\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14273"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.swisswuff.ch\/tech\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14273\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14292,"href":"https:\/\/www.swisswuff.ch\/tech\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14273\/revisions\/14292"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swisswuff.ch\/tech\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/13730"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swisswuff.ch\/tech\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14273"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swisswuff.ch\/tech\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14273"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swisswuff.ch\/tech\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14273"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}