The Cybathlon is an international race - which could be considered Formula-1 of rehabilitation - that brings together people with physical disabilities and cutting-edge technologies to showcase the potential of innovative assistive devices. At Pázmány ITK, Faculty of "Bionics", the Cybathlon is particularly close to us due to its nature.
The 2024 competition took place from 25-27 October in Zurich, where teams from around the world tested their skills in real-life challenges with advanced robotics and AI solutions, supporting the integration of these technologies to improve mobility, independence and quality of life. Our BCI team participated online from home.
Ebrainers team: (BCI event) - https://cybathlon.ethz.ch/en/teams/ebrainers
Led by Dr. Csaba Márton Köllőd, our Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) team is developing a revolutionary algorithm that, by sensing brain activity, converts the user's imagined instructions/actions into control commands for a digital device. This technology allows people paralysed from the neck down to control an electric wheelchair, robotic arm or computer cursor using only their brain waves.
Our team is a pioneer in BCI research and has proudly represented our university and Hungary at Cybathlon competitions since 2016. The team is supported by Brain Products, SZTAKI and HUN-REN Natural Science Research Centre.
Team members:
Zoltán Csortos - first pilot
Zoltán Boda - co-pilot
Júlia Fazekas - pilot assistant
Adolf András - PhD student, software development, experiment management
Zoltán Gátmezei - MSc student, software development
István Ulbert, MD, DSc - person in charge of research
Csaba Márton Köllőd, PhD - team manager
You can watch the Video streams and pictures about the event:
https://player.vimeo.com/video/1023559273
Finally, please also read their personal report about the event below:
"Our goal was to complete two out of 10 courses in the competition, demonstrating that the system we had dreamed up works in practice.
The period leading up to the competition was full of trials and tribulations. The lead pilot fell ill and was unable to take part in either the Wednesday or Thursday rehearsal days. Instead, the co-pilot stepped in and tested the system. However, he had a much more difficult time controlling the system than the first pilot. The team also had technical difficulties. Of the two computers at our disposal, one was randomly prone to freezing up completely and the other to slowing down. So in addition to the pilot's illness, this added to the team's stress levels. As providence would have it, the first pilot recovered for Saturday's qualifying and arrived on time for the scheduled time. And the machines seemed to have been sorted out with a driver update and some operating system setting changes. We put on the EEG cap, started testing to see which would be the correct classification system to use during the race. However, the results of the testing, as fewer and fewer options remained, became more and more discouraging, as none of them seemed to want to work compared to 2 weeks ago. Eventually, out of three possible classifier systems, we selected the one that proved to work best. However, it was only half accurate, so we had to change tactics quickly before the start.
We have agreed with the pilot that we will concentrate only and exclusively on the wheelchair tasks and will pass all other tracks. We lined up for the start and the first race got underway. Our pilot was able to complete 1 track. The team manager was almost giving up when they told us that the second race was about to start. After some relaxation, we entered the start again with renewed enthusiasm with the pilot and waited to see what the result would be. After the start our pilot seemed to find himself and reached the edge of the first track in record time, but there he stopped and serious minutes passed until nothing happened. Then the ice was broken and he managed to complete the first task, then the second, then the third.
The final result was clear. The system and the pilot showed that they could operate under stress, exceeding our initial expectations. The fruits of 5 years of persistent work. If we were to consider only EEG control in the competition, our team would have finished 4th, however, the result of the American team is undeniable, who with implanted electrodes set an extraordinary result, so we finished 5th overall, ahead of the Thai, Austrian and German teams.
We have received a huge boost for the future, so after a short break we are back to work with full steam ahead. Drawing on this experience, we are rethinking both the system and the experimental paradigm through which we collect data and plan to return with a new concept in 2028. "
