TU Delft TV shadowed the team before and after its race at the Cybathlon Experience. The Cybathlon Experience is a competition in which teams from different countries use an exoskeleton to run an obstacle course. Project March’s exoskeleton pilot, Sjaan Quirijns, ran the course in under 10 minutes, winning the competition.
Winning was not the main goal, though, says team captain Lennart Schut. “For us it’s more important that we use this technology to help people with spinal injuries regain mobility.”
The team worked together for a year on an exoskeleton that will allow people with spinal injuries to stand and walk again. “You need to take so many variables into account, explains electrical engineer Pim Verton. “You need to think about user-friendliness and safety, but you also need to think about design. This explains why the exoskeleton’s appearance changes every year. It’s a very challenging project.”
“It turns out that it is really important that the skeleton moves in a natural way,” adds Schut. “So in the short term, we will concentrate on making an exoskeleton that moves like a human rather than a robot. The exoskeletons will get better over time. I hope that people with spinal injuries will eventually be able to do their shopping in an exoskeleton.”
See the short TU Delft TV documentary below.
Project March has previously appeared in several articles (in Dutch):
TU Delft TV / TU Delft TV is a collaboration between Delta and the Science Centre. The crew consists of TU Delft students.
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