Scientific Events
The Rehabilitation Engineering Laboratory is strongly committed to promoting scientific exchange, with a special focus on fostering transdisciplinary discourse and collaboration. We believe this approach is key to advancing the development and application/acceptance of truly useful rehabilitation technology.
In the following you will find a list of scientific events which our lab has organized or supported in a significant manner.
CYBATHLON Symposium 2020
CYBATHLON Symposium in New Interactive Virtual Format on 17–18 September 2020, as kick-off into the CYBATHLON 2020
In view of the current international situation we have decided to organise the CYBATHLON and CYBATHLON Symposium 2020 in a new global format, mixing virtual and physical races and events. After consulting with CYBATHLON teams and Symposium keynote speakers, this decision was reached jointly with ETH Zurich and the CYBATHLON Organising Committee. The CYBATHLON Organising Committee is working intensively on a new global format scheduled for autumn 2020, and further information will follow shortly via the CYBATHLON channels.
As a kick-off into this new CYBATHLON era, the CYBATHLON Symposium will take place according to the initially planned program, but in a new, entirely virtual format with a special focus on maintaining interactivity during talks, posters/demos and the podium session. To better comply with time differences among participants, it will take place over two days on 17–18 September 2020.
We are also excited to inform you that taking advantage of this change imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, participation to the virtual CYBATHLON Symposium will be made free, in order to make it accessible to a larger public, and especially to students. We will contact those of you who already paid the registration fee for a reimbursement over the next weeks. More information will soon be available on our website.
For further information, including the Download abstract template (DOCX, 21 KB) and external page submission platform, visit the symposium website at www.cybathlon-symposium.ethz.ch
Hand, Brain and Technology
The tight functional coupling between hand and brain has made man "the most intelligent of animals" (Anaxagoras) and has greatly shaped the evolution of language, culture and technology. Any reduction or loss of hand function, whether of central or peripheral origin, has devastating effects on the independence and social integration of the affected individual. Any treatment, be it through human or technological intervention, must account for this unique coupling. As a result, hand and brain have drawn strong interest from the social, medical and engineering sciences alike. To share the latest discoveries in the field and promote exchange accross disciplines and career stages, we initiated the Hand, Brain and Technology conference series which took place in 2014 and again in 2018. Learn more about the two events at:
Cybathlon Symposium 2016
On October 6, 2016, two days before the first Cybathlon, the Cybathlon Symposium brought together leading experts and junior researchers to present and discuss recent technological advances within the six disciplines of the Cybathlon. The symposium featureed six keynotes by leading researchers and short presentations from young talents. A roundtable discussion involving end-users, patient and industry representatives and an ethics researcher highlighted opportunities and challenges in the field of assistive technology, its industrial transfer and user acceptance.
The summer school on Translational Robotics for Clinical Rehabilitation (TRCR) 2016
The summer school on Translational Robotics for Clinical Rehabilitation (TRCR) took place at the Clinica Hildebrand Centro di Riabilitazione di Brissago, from August 28 to September 1, 2016. It was jointly organized by a group of PhD students from the Rehabilitation Engineering Lab and the Sensory-Motor Systems Lab at ETH, as well as from the Laboratory of Robotic Systems at EPFL, in collaboration with the Clinica Hildebrand. The goal was to promote interaction and collaboration between engineers, physicians and therapists for the development of novel technologies to improve the quality of life of patients with neurological injuries.
rtfMRI Neurofeedback 2012
With the goals of introducing real-time fMRI neurofeedback to the Swiss neuroscience and psychology communities, and to connect the international rtfMRI community in order to discuss common problems and potential solutions, we organized a meeting on real-time fMRI neurofeedback in Zurich, Switzerland, in 2012, which was attended by over 150 international researchers and leaders in the field. This meeting initiated important conversations that led to an influential journal paper (external page Sulzer et al., NeuroImage 2013) and the creation of the international "Real-Time Functional Imaging and Neurofeedback Conference (rtFIN)", which was held for the external page third time in 2017.
ICORR and Rehab Week Zurich 2011
ICORR 2011 is a biennial international IEEE conference that highlights the latest results from world leading research labs and clinics in the field of rehabilitation robotics. A special focus is on clinical evaluation and promotion of interaction between engineers, clinicians and therapists. The conference also includes patient and caregiver testimonials as well as sessions about standardization of technology, technology transfer, and assessment tools. The ICORR 2011 was organized in the frame of the Rehab Week Zurich 2011, which took place at ETH Zurich from June 27 till July 1, 2011