24/11/2020
Engineering students and academics from Nelson Mandela University and the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) represented South Africa in the 2020 Global Cybathlon Championship hosted by Switzerland last weekend.
The Team, with the support of the Robotics Association of South Africa, were the only participants selected from Africa.
The Cybathlon is a unique, international multisport event with 60 teams from 20 countries taking part. The championship in which people with physical disabilities compete against each other to complete everyday tasks using state-of-the-art technical assistance systems is beyond just a competition – it also offers a platform to advance research in the field of assistive technology and to promote dialogue with the public about the inclusion of people with disabilities in everyday life.
Our Touch Hand team finished 11th out of 13 international competitors in their section, which featured mainly research and private sector entries. Sadly, a faulty tin can opener, supplied by the organisers deprived them of ending in the top 9. "Anything above that would have been beyond their reach with their current iteration as a massive funding injection as well as years of experience would be required" said Clive Hands from the Advanced Engineering Design Group (AEDG) in Mandela University’s School of Engineering.
The team finished above both the UK and Germany and the media attention gained was extremely encouraging. “Our students did us proud” said Clive.