Tag Archives: Imperial College

Features

VIDEO: Cybathlon – the F1 of robotics?

You’ve heard about how Imperial plan to take Cybathlon by storm but what do they think about how it will affect the robotics and neurotechnology fields? Dr Aldo Faisal, the team leader, explains his view in the video below.

Image: Courtesy of ImpFest, Imperial College London

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Features

VIDEO: Team Imperial ready for Cybathlon challenges

Team Imperial are well on their way to Cybathlon 2016, and are mightily ambitious.

Currently one of the largest teams entered, the team from Imperial College have put students at the forefront of the project and will enter four, potentially five, categories.

Last week we met up with Dr Aldo Faisal, the team leader and neurotechnology expert. In part one of our Team Imperial video series, he explains the challenges he foresees in each of the disciplines they have entered: arm prosthetics race, Brain Computer Interface race, powered wheelchair race and exoskeleton race.

 

Image: Courtesy of ImpFest, Imperial College London

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Features

The best Twitter accounts to follow for Cybathlon

Cybathlon 2016 is drawing closer and closer, and the organisers and teams are starting to dial up their preparations for the big event.

But how can you stay in touch with everything that is going on? With the event still over a year away, who you should start following – other than @InsideCybathlon, of course – if you want to turn your fleeting interest into hardcore devotion?

From the Cybathlon teams themselves to the developers of the best robotic technology in the world, via some unmissable accounts dedicated to all things disability sport, here are the top 10 twitter accounts to follow.

1. Shadow Robot (@shadowrobot)

As the world leaders in robotic hands, Shadow Robot have developed mechanical hands so advanced they can adapt and grip objects as delicate as flowers. They have even been name-dropped by David Cameron and Barack Obama, as Managing Director Rich Walker told us.

2. Universal Robot (@universal_robot)

Universal Robots are at the forefront of creating robot technology for business. Based in Denmark, they say their robot arms can be used in business to “increase productivity, reduce injury and boost morale” in the workplace.

Although the company is only 12 years old, they have established subsidiaries in Barcelona and recently moved to a three-acre new headquarters. With more than 3,500 Universal Robot arms installed across the world, they are one of the major players in robot technology.

3. EasyStand (@EasyStand)

As the name suggests, EasyStand are aimed at helping the day-to-day lives of disabled people who struggle with sitting and standing. Based in Minnesota, EasyStand are under the wing of Altimate Medical, who have a long history of developing wheelchairs and shower commodes before devoting their attention to EasyStand. In their own words, they help people who use wheelchairs “feel the numerous physical and health benefits of standing”, while they also post a number of important blog posts, such as ‘How to talk to someone in a wheelchair.’

4. The Brainstormers (@CybathlonEssex)

The Brainstormers are a team of scientists located at the School of Computer Science and Electronic Engineering at the University of Essex, who will be competing in 2016.

They have spent years studying brain computer interfaces and are one of the leading teams when it comes to this revolutionary technology. We had the pleasure of seeing them at work, and asking them all about Cybathlon – you can read it here.

5. Ana Matran-Fernandez (@amatranfer)

Ana is the team leader of the Brainstrormers and has recently been working towards the development of @Wink_It, an app which allows users to remotely control their smartphones using their eyes only. 6. Davide Valeriani (@DavideValeriani)

Ana’s partner in crime, Davide is another member of the Brainstormers team from Essex. A PhD student in brain-computer interfaces, he is the co-founder of Wink It and also UMake.it, which provides an online marketplace for ‘makers’ to share automated projects.

7. Aldo Faisal (@AnalogAldo)

The team leader of Team Imperial and a nueroscientist at Imperial College London. Team Imperial are looking to enter into four of the race categories: the arm prosthetics, the BCI race, the powered exoskeleton race and the powered wheelchair race, and many of the projects are student-run.  They may be entering one more category, but that is very much still in the pipeline.

8. Sports Innovations (@Sports_Innov8)

When you think of students, what’s the first thing that comes to your mind? Drinking? Sleeping? Partying? Avoiding all sense of adult responsibility?

Well, not these guys. Sports Innovations are a team of students from Imperial College London who are working towards designing, building and implementing Paralympic sporting equipment, as part of the Sports innovation challenge. Check them out.

9. Hocoma (@Hocoma)

Hocoma are another one of the leading companies in robotic rehabilitation for neurological movement disorders and specialise in lower back pain treatment. They are based in Switzerland, so don’t be put off by the fact that not all of their tweets are in English.

Their creation Valedo won a Red Dot ‘Honourable Mention’ award this year for its ‘outstanding design solution’ and they work closely with the leading clinics and research centres, so there will always at the forefront of the latest technology.

10. Cybathlon (@cybathlon)

The Twitter account of the event organisers themselves will keep you up to date with the event’s date and regulations as well as bringing your attention to other Paralympic athletes and achievements across the UK and worldwide.

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News

BCI pilot told he’s ineligible

Jonathan Brough was one of the first people to sign up for Cybathlon. Now, two months on, he’s been told he can’t compete.

The reason? He has a pacemaker.

Given how excited he was about competing, he’s understandably gutted about the news, but ensures us he is talking to his GP to work out a way for him to be eligible again. At present, this leaves Team Imperial, involving scientists at Imperial College, pilot-less.

“Due to the fact that I have a pacemaker the organisers are saying, for safety reasons, I can no longer take part,” he told us.

“I’m still working with Imperial College in designing and testing and intend to go to Cybathlon 2016, its just that at this point I will not be allowed to take part in the races. I have discussed this with my G.P. who is currently looking into it.”

Linda Seward, of NCCR Robotics, explained the ruling to us:

“The reason for the exclusion criteria for pacemakers is that as the participating devices may not be CE certified they may interfere with a pacemaker, so it’s a safety precaution.”

If you didn’t read our original interview with Jonathan, he contracted meningitis in 2007 and has been paralysed ever since.  Now 26, he lives near Stroud with two round-the-clock carers, but did not let it stop him completing a degree at Plymouth University.

As part of his preparation for Cybathlon, he had just started learning how to use a BCI, as he normally speaks with air from his ventilator. To control his wheelchair he uses a lip joystick, but the Rio Tinto team had been developing eye control for him.

Fortunately, Jonathan has found something to take his mind off the disappointment.

“I’m still finding it difficult to understand their decision but am hoping to go skiing in Milton Keynes next week.”

For a former skiing enthusiast, that is certain to lift his mood.

Jonathan Brough is aided by his carers.

Team effort: Jonathan Brough is aided by his carers.

Images: Courtesy of Jonathan Brough

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