Portrait photo of CYBATHLON Team
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EXO / Exoskeleton Race

Project MARCH

NetherlandsNetherlands

About the Team

Project MARCH is a non-profit student team, and it is the only CYBATHLON team consisting exclusively of students without the guidance of a professor – not only in the preparation and participation in CYBATHLON but also in the development of their exoskeleton. Project MARCH's collaborators interrupt their regular studies for one year, during which they raise the walking device to the next level. The name says it all: the goal is to enable someone with a spinal cord injury to stand up and walk again. The current team of Project MARCH consists of 25 students from different fields, including biomedicine and computer science. They work closely with their pilot Daan van der Heyden and a physiotherapist.

About the Pilot

This is the first year that Daan van der Heyden is the pilot for Project MARCH.

Daan is 31 years old and lives in Gaanderen. In 2017, he suffered a spinal cord injury due to an accident on an off-road ride with his motorcycle. Before his accident Daan used to work as an orthopaedic shoemaker and was an active sportsman who, among other sports, played hockey and liked to sail.

Now Daan works as a volunteer in the Patient Advisory Board at SMK. Daan is also a full-time wheelchair basketball player. He plays for the Dutch team and therefore can be found at Papendal a lot. Furthermore, Daan plays wheelchair basketball at his club in Osnabrück Germany. At the CYBATHLON Challenge he will start with the prototype MARCH IX.

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