Races and Rules 2024 are published

CYBATHLON officially starts the Road to 2024: In May the first CYBATHLON Challenges will take place and now the Races and Rules for the upcoming period until 2024 have been published.

In order for the teams to start their preparations for the upcoming competitions and events, the CYBATHLON Races and Rules are essential. The CYBATHLON Organising Committee has been working intensively on the development of the competition and the rulebook for the CYBATHLON 2024 and the Road to 2024, investing a lot of time in brainstorming, discussions and testing. In order to identify the needs, expectations and daily challenges of people with disabilities, as well as the potentials and limitations of assistive technology in the first place, and thus to be able to further develop the competition and the rulebook, the CYBATHLON Organising Committee was and is in close exchange with the Head of Disciplines, organisations, foundations, researchers and, of course, people with disabilities.

More Uncertainty and Variability

Now the Races and Rules for the period until 2024 have been published. The rulebook can be read and downloaded here.

The main change is that the competition tasks for CYBATHLON 2024 are more unpredictable and variable in most disciplines compared to 2016 and 2020. The devices must allow pilots to react quickly and flexibly to different tasks. This further development should better reflect real-life situations, in which the circumstances of a barrier are also often unknown.

Proven and New Disciplines

The six original disciplines, Arm and Leg Prosthesis Races, Exoskeleton and Wheelchair Races, Brain-Computer Interface Race and Functional Electrical Stimulation Bike Race, remain and have been further developed.

For example, implanted systems are now allowed in the BCI race. Exoskeleton pilots will have to cover a distance without crutches, and in the bike race with electrical muscle stimulation, the race distance will be extended compared to previous events.

The Road to 2024 will add two disciplines to the original six: A Vision Assistance Race for blind people and an Assistance Robot Race for people with severe arm and leg impairments. The technologies have the potential to improve the quality of life and autonomy of people who are blind or have motor impairments.

Contributing to Inclusion

The CYBATHLON 2024 will take place in a global format at the Schluefweg Arena in Kloten and in hubs around the world from 25 to 27 October 2024. In this unique competition, 160 international teams from academia and industry will compete against and with each other.

Teams that want to contribute to the inclusion of people with disabilities and work towards a world without barriers can now become part of CYBATHLON and register as a team. All information about team registration for the CYBATHLON 2024 can be found here.

Background Information about the Competition Development

Why does CYBATHLON organise a competition for people with disabilities and how is it developed in parallel with their changing needs? What are the criteria for a CYBATHLON discipline and its tasks to prove themselves? How are fairness and comparability ensured? And why do we always refer to the users of assistive technologies as pilots?

Lukas Jäger, CYBATHLON’s Head of Competition, answers these and more questions in an interview.