Polish company Contur 2000 has taken third place in the CYBATHLON 2020 competition with their HybridLeg entry to the bionic leg prostheses category.
Organised once every four years, CYBATHLON is an international competition which selects the best technical assistance systems for people with disabilities. This includes wheelchairs, exoskeletons and mechanical-electronic prostheses. Competing teams from around the world perform a variety of tasks, such as climbing stairs in an exoskeleton.
Because of the pandemic, this year saw teams record their races which were then shown online with a live commentary.
In this year's edition, Contur 2000 took third place in the category of leg prostheses with their HybridLeg prosthesis, which practically enables free walking.
The prosthesis works in two modes, passive and active. In the passive, it does not require any power supply. In active mode, a battery powered electric motor supports walking, making it possible to climb stairs or move on an inclined surface more easily.
This combination of passive and active prosthesis in a single device was possible thanks to an innovative transmission and clutch system, already submitted to the patent office.
The Polish company was beaten by two teams from Switzerland.
During the competition, a competitor called Adrian equipped with a prosthesis had to approach a table, take two saucers with cups, move them to another place, take two plates from there and place them where the cups previously stood.
In another task, competitors had to pick up plates with apples from the floor and move them through an obstacle course made of planks. Other tasks included walking on a narrow footbridge with a load, or climbing stairs.
A spokesperson for HybridLeg said: “Participation in the competition was a great adventure and a great success for us. We are proud that we could represent Poland in the Cybathlon 2020 Global Edition and take third place. We would like to thank Adrian for his commitment, fortitude and once again congratulate him on the achieved result.”
Find out more on these pages:
https://cybathlon.ethz.ch/en/event
Results, video: https://cybathlon.ethz.ch/en/event/results#media-video-3849
https://contur2000.pl/pl/hybridleg/
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