Brain-Computer Interface team placed fourth at the CYBATHLON 2020 Global Edition
In November 2020, the team of researchers from Neural Control of Movement Lab, ETH Zurich, and School of Computer Science and Engineering, NTU Singapore, together with their tetraplegic pilot, competed in the Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) Race at the CYBATHLON 2020 Global Edition.
Although the COVID-19 pandemic has severely impacted the training with the pilots and format of the CYBATHLON event itself, the team was pleased that a virtual competition was still possible. Through hard work, a great team effort from the Swiss and Singaporean side, and unreserved dedication from both of the pilots, Samuel Kunz has achieved the well-deserved fourth place in the race. Videos of the competition can be found here.
The team is grateful for having had the opportunity to be part of such an extraordinary event about inclusion of people with a disability and of course, the unique technical challenge. The team would like to thank the sponsors external page Brain Products and external page Rehaklinik Zihlschlacht for making it possible in the first place.
Through this project we were able to gain new insights and experience for the interface between assistance systems and their tetraplegic pilots/users. Although many technical and scientific challenges still have to be addressed by researchers all around the world, we believe in Human-machine Interfaces as a tool to support the less privileged such as people with a disability.