WHL / Wheelchair Race

Robility enhanced

Switzerland

About the Team

The former hsr enhanced team from the former University of Applied Sciences Rapperswil (HSR), now Eastern Switzerland University of Applied Sciences (OST) is an unchallenged winning team: They won the CYBATHLON 2016, the WHL Series in Japan and the CYBATHLON 2020 Global Edition with their pilot Florian Hauser and team leader Christian Bermes. Now, the team is led by Silvia Rohner and has a new pilot: the 2020 exoskeleton pilot Rolf Schoch.

Robility enhanced

About the Pilot

"I am glad to be able to do something so special again and to take part in a competition", Rolf Schoch says. His passion was motocross until an accident stopped him: "I had a fall during a race and since then I have a complete paralysis from the thoracic vertebra TH 5", explains the truck mechanic. In his free time, he likes to do sports and take care of technical devices.

Rolf was the exoskeleton pilot of the VariLeg enhanced team at the CYBATHLON 2020 Global Edition. He is enthusiastic about CYBATHLON and being part of the team: "From all of us there is a lot of heart and soul in this project!"

About the Device

The team follows a modular development approach: each module of the wheelchair is developed by students in a project during their Bachelor's or Master's degree in mechanical engineering. Engineers of the Institute for Lab Automation and Mechatronics refine the approaches and create the racing wheelchair. The result: a four-wheel electric wheelchair with four-wheel drive and all-wheel steering, lowerable endless rubber chains for obstacles such as stairs and a robotic arm for opening and closing doors.