{"id":2457,"date":"2014-05-30T20:45:05","date_gmt":"2014-05-30T18:45:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.swisswuff.ch\/tech\/?p=2457"},"modified":"2024-02-14T07:06:33","modified_gmt":"2024-02-14T06:06:33","slug":"should-we-take-interest-in-the-cybathlon-2016-website-check","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swisswuff.ch\/tech\/?p=2457","title":{"rendered":"Should we take interest in the Cybathlon 2016? [website check]"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The idea of the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.swisswuff.ch\/tech\/?p=327\">Paradrom Rathausen<\/a> was uber cool.<\/p>\n<p>Who knows, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.cybathlon.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">this <\/a>might be even cooler. Check &#8216;er out!<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.cybathlon.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">http:\/\/www.cybathlon.com\/<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_82_2 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=2457\/#_The_website_and_program\" >\u00a0The website and program<\/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=2457\/#Stakeholders_board_advisory_team\" >Stakeholders, board, advisory team<\/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=2457\/#Insurance_and_warranty_of_prosthetic_arms\" >Insurance and warranty of prosthetic arms?<\/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=2457\/#Prosthetic_arms\" >Prosthetic arms<\/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=2457\/#Cybathlon_impact\" >Cybathlon impact<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h1><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"_The_website_and_program\"><\/span>\u00a0The website and program<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h1>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.swisswuff.ch\/tech\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/cybathlon2016a.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-2460\" src=\"https:\/\/www.swisswuff.ch\/tech\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/cybathlon2016a-300x270.png\" alt=\"cybathlon2016a\" width=\"300\" height=\"270\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.swisswuff.ch\/tech\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/cybathlon2016a-300x270.png 300w, https:\/\/www.swisswuff.ch\/tech\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/cybathlon2016a.png 974w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.swisswuff.ch\/tech\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/cybathlon2016b.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-2459\" src=\"https:\/\/www.swisswuff.ch\/tech\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/cybathlon2016b-300x270.png\" alt=\"cybathlon2016b\" width=\"300\" height=\"270\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.swisswuff.ch\/tech\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/cybathlon2016b-300x270.png 300w, https:\/\/www.swisswuff.ch\/tech\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/cybathlon2016b.png 974w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.swisswuff.ch\/tech\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/cybathlon2016c.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-2458\" src=\"https:\/\/www.swisswuff.ch\/tech\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/cybathlon2016c-300x270.png\" alt=\"cybathlon2016c\" width=\"300\" height=\"270\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.swisswuff.ch\/tech\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/cybathlon2016c-300x270.png 300w, https:\/\/www.swisswuff.ch\/tech\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/cybathlon2016c.png 974w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.swisswuff.ch\/tech\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/cybathlon2016d.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-2466\" src=\"https:\/\/www.swisswuff.ch\/tech\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/cybathlon2016d-287x300.png\" alt=\"cybathlon2016d\" width=\"287\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.swisswuff.ch\/tech\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/cybathlon2016d-287x300.png 287w, https:\/\/www.swisswuff.ch\/tech\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/cybathlon2016d.png 839w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 287px) 100vw, 287px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.swisswuff.ch\/tech\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/cybathlon2016e.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-2465\" src=\"https:\/\/www.swisswuff.ch\/tech\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/cybathlon2016e-287x300.png\" alt=\"cybathlon2016e\" width=\"287\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.swisswuff.ch\/tech\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/cybathlon2016e-287x300.png 287w, https:\/\/www.swisswuff.ch\/tech\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/cybathlon2016e.png 839w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 287px) 100vw, 287px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.swisswuff.ch\/tech\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/cybathlon2016f.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-2464\" src=\"https:\/\/www.swisswuff.ch\/tech\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/cybathlon2016f-287x300.png\" alt=\"cybathlon2016f\" width=\"287\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.swisswuff.ch\/tech\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/cybathlon2016f-287x300.png 287w, https:\/\/www.swisswuff.ch\/tech\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/cybathlon2016f.png 839w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 287px) 100vw, 287px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.swisswuff.ch\/tech\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/cybathlon2016g.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-2463\" src=\"https:\/\/www.swisswuff.ch\/tech\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/cybathlon2016g-287x300.png\" alt=\"cybathlon2016g\" width=\"287\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.swisswuff.ch\/tech\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/cybathlon2016g-287x300.png 287w, https:\/\/www.swisswuff.ch\/tech\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/cybathlon2016g.png 839w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 287px) 100vw, 287px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.swisswuff.ch\/tech\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/cybathlon2016h.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-2462\" src=\"https:\/\/www.swisswuff.ch\/tech\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/cybathlon2016h-287x300.png\" alt=\"cybathlon2016h\" width=\"287\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.swisswuff.ch\/tech\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/cybathlon2016h-287x300.png 287w, https:\/\/www.swisswuff.ch\/tech\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/cybathlon2016h.png 839w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 287px) 100vw, 287px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Wow. Well. The Cybathlon tries to get amputees to a puppet master conference for comparing funny grip ideas against each other with the apparent goal of getting &#8220;bionic&#8221; hand owners to win. That goal is worded with explicit terms here, where they state &#8220;&#8221;the rules of the competition should be designed in such way that <em>the design of the novel technology gives the pilot an advantage over a pilot that would theoretically use a comparable but less advanced or conventional assistive technology<\/em>&#8220;. This is a brand hot claim, seeing as if the makers of this series of tests want &#8220;bionic&#8221; devices to win and as that, they seem to be oblivious to technical history (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.swisswuff.ch\/tech\/?p=9423\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">link<\/a>): they did their darnedest to get what they believed is the more modern technology to win; now, consider this as a fact: hands, hand shapes, hand forms, are a prosthetic idea that dates back centuries, thus the idea to replace an absent hand with something that also looks like a hand it relatively old; the <em>by far<\/em> newer idea is to wear a skeletonized reduced hand shape that embodies everyday object shape negatives (you read that here first too, didn&#8217;t you) in form of a combined power and precision grip, a shape that is rigid and thus predictable as a gripper (which is key to predictable gripping &#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.swisswuff.ch\/tech\/?p=9322\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">link<\/a>), which are the newer modern split hooks and prehensors. While the creators of the Cybathlon confuse &#8220;hook&#8221; &#8211; as in a simple hook, as it may have been worn by fictional pirates &#8211; with the intricate design details and practical advantages of a Hosmer model 5 or 6 &#8220;split hook&#8221;, they also ignore the engineering that went into these. Plus the history of myoelectric arms and the constant performance decay (!) across 40 years of research &#8211; so, if all things play out we might be ind for a surprise there. By their own definition, the 2016 and 2020 Cybathlon Prosthetic Arm race outcomes, both being won by modern body-powered grippers, confirm historical truths: that well built prosthetic split-hooks and their prehensor-like offspring as even more modern designs beat the old, stale and bulky hand shapes. Fascinating, that Federal Office of Technology allows themselves to word stuff like that (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.swisswuff.ch\/tech\/?p=3312\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">link<\/a>).<\/p>\n<p>Now, if it was about getting \u00a0hand\/s dirty with prosthetics, they&#8217;d a aksed me ; )<\/p>\n<p>However, I don&#8217;t ever button my shirts or tie my shoe laces really, I hardly ever train my daily wire loops and I most certainly cannot be bothered practicing how to pick up coins using the prosthetic.<\/p>\n<p>Now until 2016, I certainly will have cut my hedges a few times, cleaned my house a few, pulled off some other heavy lift type stuff, sewn myself new curtains, turned a few more pieces of meat on my grill &#8211; but all these pansy boy thingies there? Would you want to get caught doing these? Honestly. And, why is that.<\/p>\n<h1><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Stakeholders_board_advisory_team\"><\/span>Stakeholders, board, advisory team<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h1>\n<p>On another note, it is somewhat intriguing to see who all seems to care about arm amputees completing this thing&#8230; so, from the Cybathlon website [<a href=\"http:\/\/kundertr.bplaced.net\/wordpress\/?page_id=95\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">link<\/a>; Nov 25th, 2013]:<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 60px;\"><strong>The Cybathlon Advisory Board<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left; padding-left: 60px;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.havasworldwide.ch\/zurich\/en\/agency\/principals\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Frank Bodin<\/a> (advertisement), <a href=\"http:\/\/www.balgrist.ch\/en\/desktopdefault.aspx\/tabid-29\/31_read-29\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Thomas B\u00f6ni<\/a> (orthopedic physician),\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/uwconf\/icorr2013\/rehab_industry.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Gery Colombo<\/a> (CEO robotics), <a href=\"http:\/\/www.chab.ethz.ch\/personen\/emeritus\/rernst\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Richard Ernst<\/a> (Nobelprize winner),\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/people.epfl.ch\/dario.floreano\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Dario Floreano<\/a> (roboticist), <a href=\"http:\/\/de.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Walter_Frey_%28SVP%29\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Walter Frey<\/a> (Swiss Olympic\/Ski), <a href=\"http:\/\/felix-gutzwiller.ch\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Felix Gutzwiller<\/a> (St\u00e4nderat), <a href=\"http:\/\/www.thomasheiniger.ch\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Thomas Heiniger<\/a> (Regierungsrat), <a href=\"http:\/\/www.football-future.com\/?page_id=144\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Christoph Joho<\/a> (event organisator), <a href=\"http:\/\/www.spiraldynamik.com\/portrait\/christianlarsen.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Christian Larsen <\/a>(physician), <a href=\"http:\/\/de.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Corine_Mauch\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Corine Mauch<\/a> (Stadtpr\u00e4sidentin), <a href=\"http:\/\/www.zkb.ch\/de\/center_worlds\/ueber_uns\/portraet\/fuehrungsgremium\/generaldirektion.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Martin Scholl<\/a> (CEO banking), <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ifi.uzh.ch\/ailab\/group\/professors\/rolfpfeifer.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Rolf Pfeifer <\/a>(roboticist),\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/de.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Stiftung_MyHandicap\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Joachim Schoss<\/a> (entrepreneur)<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Actual prosthetic arm engineers that reportedly or knowingly\u00a0built a working arm in their life time: 0\/14.<\/li>\n<li>Actual marketing: 2\/14<\/li>\n<li>Amputees with a strong profile in prosthetic testing: 0\/14<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 60px;\"><strong>The Cybathlon Executive Board and Consultants<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 60px;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/me.columbia.edu\/sunil-agrawal\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Sunil Agrawal<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.sms.hest.ethz.ch\/people\/directory\/eaksoez\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Anil Aksoz<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.eksobionics.com\/leadership\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Russ Angold<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.xing.com\/profile\/Roland_Auberger\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Roland Auberger<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.sms.hest.ethz.ch\/people\/directory\/volkerb\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Volker Bartenbach<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.balgrist.ch\/en\/desktopdefault.aspx\/tabid-29\/31_read-29\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Thomas B\u00f6ni<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.ch\/search?q=Rainer+Burgkart\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Rainer Burgkart<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.herl.pitt.edu\/person\/rory-cooper\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Rory Cooper<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.neuroscience.ethz.ch\/research\/aging_disorders\/curt\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Armin Curt<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/people.epfl.ch\/dario.floreano\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Dario Floreano<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/de.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Walter_Frey_%28SVP%29\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Walter Frey<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.xing.com\/profile\/John_Frijters\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">John Frijters<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/graphics.ethz.ch\/~grossm\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Markus Gross<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.is.tuebingen.mpg.de\/nc\/employee\/details\/moritzgw.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Moritz Grosse-Wentrup<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.gtec.at\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Christoph Guger<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/fsmweb.northwestern.edu\/faculty\/facultyProfile.cfm?xid=18501\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Levi Hargrove<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.ch\/search?q=Michael+Hofer\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Michael Hofer<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.ch\/search?q=Ken+Hunt\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Ken Hunt<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.sms.hest.ethz.ch\/people\/directory\/kelleru\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Urs Keller<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.balgrist-tec.ch\/desktopdefault.aspx\/tabid-298\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Stefan Kupsch<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.sms.hest.ethz.ch\/people\/directory\/lmarchal\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Laura Marchal-Crespo<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.ch\/search?q=Bertolt+Meyer\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Bertolt Meyer<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/cnp.epfl.ch\/Miceralab\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Silvestro Micera<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/people.epfl.ch\/jose.millan\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jose Millan<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/bci.tugraz.at\/staff\/11-personal-homepages\/12-gernot-r-mueller-putz\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Gernot M\u00fcller-Putz<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ihmc.us\/groups\/pneuhaus\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Peter Neuhaus<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.sms.hest.ethz.ch\/people\/directory\/novakd\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Domen Novak<\/a>,<a href=\"http:\/\/www.sms.hest.ethz.ch\/people\/directory\/pagela\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> Anna Pagel<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.ch\/search?q=Jessica+Pedersen\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jessica Pedersen<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nearlab.polimi.it\/index.php\/peopleall?view=member&amp;task=show&amp;id=8\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Alessandra Pedrocchi<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ifi.uzh.ch\/ailab\/group\/professors\/rolfpfeifer.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Rolf Pfeifer<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.sms.hest.ethz.ch\/people\/directory\/pfeifers\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Serge Pfeifer<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.ch\/search?q=Milos+Popovic\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Milos Popovic<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.sms.hest.ethz.ch\/people\/directory\/rauterg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Georg Rauter<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.control.tu-berlin.de\/User:Thomas_Schauer\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Thomas Schauer<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.paraplegie.ch\/de\/pub\/spz\/aerzte_und_fachpersonal.cfm?sDepartment=all&amp;81446C9C3D0941598FD83FCB539E9C40\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Diana Sigrist-Nix<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/patents.justia.com\/inventor\/johann-szecsi\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Johann Szecsi<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.seas.harvard.edu\/directory\/walsh\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Conor Walsh<\/a><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Actual prosthetic arm engineers that\u00a0reportedly or knowingly\u00a0built a working arm in their life time: 0\/38<\/li>\n<li>Amputees with a strong profile in prosthetic testing: 0\/38<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>So, a few people are missing here. Some others we wonder about.\u00a0Not really sure what Professor Ernst is doing there, and since when Prof. Gutzwiller or Thomas Heiniger really know their\u00a0way around prosthetic arms. Keep banging the rocks together, there might be a spark.<\/p>\n<h1><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Insurance_and_warranty_of_prosthetic_arms\"><\/span>Insurance and warranty of prosthetic arms?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h1>\n<p>No one knows how a prosthetic hand might be insured &#8211; after all, insurance and warranty contracts typically exclude any extreme usage and most certainly sports.<\/p>\n<p>Now, if the creators of Cybathlon agree to my interpretation of this being simply a puppet master conference of sorts that lacks each and every aspect of a real sports competition as I have tried to explain on more detail [<a href=\"http:\/\/www.swisswuff.ch\/tech\/?p=3056\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">link<\/a>], then we could conclude that this type of alternative office type activity is well insured. However, then it would to totally wise to exclude the words Cybathlon, race, sports, olympia or any other wording in conjunction with amateur sports leave alone professional sports.<\/p>\n<p>Because of the iLimb, Michelangelo or Bebionic takes any damage whatsoever, you as pilot will have to pay for any damages yourself.<\/p>\n<h1><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Prosthetic_arms\"><\/span>Prosthetic arms<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h1>\n<p>Now, always relevant to consider one thing about prosthetic arms: where do they come from, what do they do here, where do they go?\u00a0<span style=\"font-size: 13px;\">What type of animal is a prosthetic arm really?\u00a0<\/span>Because, not knowing and not understanding that could mean you&#8217;d get it all wrong.<\/p>\n<p>So: here, in fact, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ahv-iv.info\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Swiss Disability Insurance (IV)<\/a> pays for Swiss people&#8217;s prosthetic arms.\u00a0That has far more\u00a0relevant implications that one might think at first. You just have to keep reading.<\/p>\n<p>What type of arms are getting paid?\u00a0The ones that specifically help with specific job related activities of the specific individual. Those (and only those) are the ones we are getting our prostheses for. Not necessarily to pour jugs, or to close zippers with, but, to actually work. That, dear friends, can be just such a difference. And how and why might that be. What a classroom question now, isn&#8217;t it.\u00a0Interestingly, those job related activities are the ones <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">explicitly not<\/span> contained in the test listed here, in the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.shap.ecs.soton.ac.uk\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Southampton Assessment Procedure<\/a>. Besides, the SHAP test is meant to be interpreted for slow and clean grip quality &#8211; not as a timed race, which is non sensical, technically speaking [<a href=\"http:\/\/www.swisswuff.ch\/tech\/?p=3043\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">link<\/a>]. So, why is that.\u00a0To reiterate: every arm amputee under Swiss Disability Insurance has the chance to apply for job-related support. With prostheses being the way they are, in any optimal case, that is what these prosthetic arms will be able to do. Not less, but certainly not really more. Why is that!<\/p>\n<p>Do we have a Social Law that describes the type of support paid for? Can you cite it? If you do research in prosthetic arms, why would you take pride in not knowing these facts? What then is wrong with you? Look, we just care. And we want to know whether you care, too. \u00a0To now test all for the fastest tripod grip &#8211; such as contained in the SHAP &#8211; is surprisingly off the mark. Real prosthetic\u00a0arms, mostly, never were built for it.<\/p>\n<p>And why would they!<\/p>\n<h1><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Cybathlon_impact\"><\/span>Cybathlon impact<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h1>\n<p>Of course it is cool to see how many pineapples one can shove into a toaster but this race is not designed to be even a minute bit more intelligent. Possibly it might\u00a0be fun, depending on who ends up showing up. But intelligent? You gotta get up a hell of a lot earlier for that.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The Cybathlon however currently is wrong on a number of levels:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The Cybathlon ideators seem to have no idea who they want to test in terms of arm amputees. On one website they write they want to test only above elbow arm amputees [<a href=\"http:\/\/www.myhandicap.ch\/cybathlon.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">link<\/a>] (content:&#8221;Geschicklichkeitsparcours mit Armprothesen: Athleten mit einer <strong>Oberarmamputation<\/strong> verwenden eine aktuierte Armprothese, um damit alltagsrelevante ein- und zweih\u00e4ndige Bewegungsaufgaben schnellstm\u00f6glich zu absolvieren.&#8221;). On their own site, below and above elbow amputees both are invited [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cybathlon.ethz.ch\/?page_id=28\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">link<\/a>] (content: &#8220;Pilots with<strong> forearm or upper arm amputations<\/strong> will be equipped with actuated exoprosthetic devices and will have to successfully complete two hand-arm task courses as quickly as possible. A close-up camera view will be used to life-display the shoot on the stadium screens.&#8221;). True. It is confusing how many different amputations and handicaps there are. Easily does one confuse wheelchair, glasses, prosthesis and prototype as words. That sort of thing happens all the time. However it would probably be helpful if the authors of the Cybathlon could make their mind up which of these words they really wanted to use. Because they mean something specific.<\/li>\n<li>While they do seem not have a happy neglect about the type of arm amputees they want (or not want) to see at their &#8220;competition&#8221;, they were adamant about including only &#8220;powered&#8221; prosthetic hands at first. After much convincing body powered arms are now allowed. Still, I cannot manually rotate my wrist for the wire loop test &#8211; and really, there are no wrist units at my amputation level that does what these guys want it to do. With that, they obviously cannot fulfill their goal of making this an &#8220;international competition for people with disabilities&#8221;. They are making this an &#8220;international competition for a few people with disabilities that have the luxury of wearing prosthetic arms practically no insurance on this planet pays, and that cost as much as 4-7 small new cars&#8221;. Their test &#8211; and we will get to that very shortly here &#8211; is specifically catered to &#8220;bionic&#8221; arms and, worse, it does not even do that right, respect issues that are grave enough aside. That is what they are really doing. We all get our definitions wrong all the time, don&#8217;t we. So best to practice on that one as well. Maybe one day we will know what the Cybathlon really was about.<\/li>\n<li>The Cybathlon tests are also biased towards electronic and &#8220;bionic&#8221; prostheses. The creators have no interest to address job specific or actual everyday problems concerning arm amputation or prostheses. Were it like that, we would be looking at tricks and techniques on how to do vacuum cleaning, how to scrub toilets [<a href=\"http:\/\/www.swisswuff.ch\/tech\/?p=339\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">link<\/a>], how to boil spaghetti [link], how to ride a bike [<a href=\"http:\/\/www.swisswuff.ch\/tech\/?p=1733\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">link<\/a>], folding a shirt [<a href=\"http:\/\/www.swisswuff.ch\/tech\/?p=2665\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">link<\/a>], handling grocery baskets and carry furniture [link], how to really go about shoe laces the grown up way [<a href=\"http:\/\/www.swisswuff.ch\/tech\/?p=1587\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">link<\/a>], or bake a cake [link]. Otherwise, insurance will have to pay hundreds of thousands of bucks for puppetry gadget arms, and still more for cleaning and maintenance services.<\/li>\n<li>The Cybathlon is massively biased towards fidgeting and (within a day or a week of a normal person or so) widely useless manipulations (illustrative videos and details, see below). Were it any different, <strong>testing human-like appearance<\/strong> would be at the center of the Cybathlon. I defined such a test recently [<a href=\"http:\/\/www.swisswuff.ch\/tech\/?p=3295\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">link<\/a>]. My test for human appearance is the single hardest most uncompromising test, but my test absolutely rocks. Because then we&#8217;d throw out all the prosthetic devices that let others see that some of us wear a prosthetic limb. Only prostheses that successfully create the appearance of a human hand will pass such a test.<\/li>\n<li>As Cybathlon creators are <strong>also pilots and stake holders<\/strong> [see board and advisors], the test outcome is biased towards these that create tests first and participate afterwards. This very simply formally excludes sports and fairness. To have industry or biased academia do their thing is not a problem. But: the Cybathlon hopefuls phantasize about &#8220;olympic&#8221; ideals which makes this totally weird.<\/li>\n<li>If the Cybathlon wants to promote useless <strong>Dead Horses such as myoelectric &#8220;bionic&#8221; arms<\/strong> that are well known for their short comings and where speed deficiencies are well established [<a href=\"http:\/\/www.swisswuff.ch\/tech\/?p=344\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">link<\/a>] [<a href=\"http:\/\/www.swisswuff.ch\/tech\/?p=2168\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">link<\/a>] &#8212;&#8230; why do they still want to rate pilots for &#8220;speed&#8221;? That is non sensical even within the mental framework of non-sensicality as such!<\/li>\n<li>While spending 80&#8217;000 CHF on an electronic gadget hand as the Cybathlon creators appear to envisage our future, some <strong>simple facts<\/strong> seem to have slipped their attention. After all, they do not seem to really want disabled people to shine and to rise. They want their overpriced &#8220;bionic&#8221; gadgets to &#8220;shine&#8221;. However, for an extremely small fraction of what these iLimbs and BeLimbs all cost, <strong>there are simple and effective solutions\u00a0for ADL (activity of daily living) problems<\/strong>\u00a0[<a href=\"http:\/\/www.swisswuff.ch\/tech\/?p=1995\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">link<\/a>]. If you really care about one handed world stuff, don&#8217;t get lost at the Cybathlon.<\/li>\n<li>The Cybathlon <strong>bases on the premise that handicapped people cannot participate in international sports<\/strong>\u00a0 [<a href=\"http:\/\/www.myhandicap.ch\/cybathlon.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">link<\/a>] &#8220;Der Cybathlon er\u00f6ffnet Menschen mit Behinderung die M\u00f6glichkeit, an einem internationalen Wettkampf teilzunehmen, was bisher aufgrund der restriktiven Regeln gegen\u00fcber dem Einsatz von Technik im internationalen Sport ausgeschlossen war. &#8220;. Participation in international competitions, not possible for people with a handicap? That is nonsense, in fact, it is so totally arrogant it demands and begs for a rebuttal [<a href=\"http:\/\/www.swisswuff.ch\/tech\/?p=3056\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">link<\/a>].<\/li>\n<li>Both in terms of speed and qualitatively, body powered arms dominate the field &#8211; that is very well established [<a href=\"http:\/\/www.swisswuff.ch\/tech\/?p=545\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">link<\/a>]. A time or speed fetish dominates over qualitative aspects in this Cybathlon nonsense coming up: &#8220;The goal of this course is to solve the subtasks subsequently and as fast as possible. When the task is not performed correctly, a simple, but time consuming penalty task will have to be performed. In contrast to the SHAP test, where the time is stopped after each single object, here the time will be stopped after solving all the subtasks.&#8221; [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cybathlon.ethz.ch\/?page_id=28\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">link<\/a>]. <strong>I would not be concerned about speed.<\/strong> Buttoning up my jacket as amputee never is a problem that exists anywhere. Besides I am just as fast no matter what (see videos below). That does not prove a thing. Go about the whole thing differently, please.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Links:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.cybathlon.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">http:\/\/www.cybathlon.com\/<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.h-plus-h.ch\/index.cfm?spr=0&amp;hpn=4&amp;sbn=5&amp;idn=59\">http:\/\/www.h-plus-h.ch\/index.cfm?spr=0&amp;hpn=4&amp;sbn=5&amp;idn=59<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/kundertr.bplaced.net\/wordpress\/\">http:\/\/kundertr.bplaced.net\/wordpress\/<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/cybathlon\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/cybathlon<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/actu.epfl.ch\/news\/cybathlon-3\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">http:\/\/actu.epfl.ch\/news\/cybathlon-3\/<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.wired.co.uk\/news\/archive\/2014-03\/27\/cybathlon\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">http:\/\/www.wired.co.uk\/news\/archive\/2014-03\/27\/cybathlon<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/thrivesports.com\/2014\/03\/30\/switzerland-set-host-first-ever-cybathlon-2016\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">http:\/\/thrivesports.com\/2014\/03\/30\/switzerland-set-host-first-ever-cybathlon-2016\/<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/news.discovery.com\/tech\/robotics\/2016-cybathlon-competition-designed-for-parathletes-140325.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">http:\/\/news.discovery.com\/tech\/robotics\/2016-cybathlon-competition-designed-for-parathletes-140325.htm<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nccr-robotics.ch\/page-102212-en.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">http:\/\/www.nccr-robotics.ch\/page-102212-en.html<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a style=\"font-size: 13px;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.myhandicap.ch\/cybathlon.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">http:\/\/www.myhandicap.ch\/cybathlon.html<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a style=\"font-size: 13px;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.balgrist.ch\/desktopdefault.aspx\/tabid-169\/9_read-1376\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">http:\/\/www.balgrist.ch\/desktopdefault.aspx\/tabid-169\/9_read-1376\/<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\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>The idea of the Paradrom Rathausen was uber cool. Who knows, this might be even cooler. Check &#8216;er out! http:\/\/www.cybathlon.com\/<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7182,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[115,298,199,231,28,101,193,61],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2457","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academic-research-under-the-amputee-excuse-tae","category-catch-22-of-cybathlon","category-cybathlon-2016","category-cybathlon-2020","category-disability-public","category-media-publishing-hyped-up-distortions","category-research-premise-myths","category-specifications-comparisons","wpcat-115-id","wpcat-298-id","wpcat-199-id","wpcat-231-id","wpcat-28-id","wpcat-101-id","wpcat-193-id","wpcat-61-id"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-26 13:06:46","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swisswuff.ch\/tech\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2457","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=2457"}],"version-history":[{"count":33,"href":"https:\/\/www.swisswuff.ch\/tech\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2457\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11460,"href":"https:\/\/www.swisswuff.ch\/tech\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2457\/revisions\/11460"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swisswuff.ch\/tech\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7182"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swisswuff.ch\/tech\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2457"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swisswuff.ch\/tech\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2457"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swisswuff.ch\/tech\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2457"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}