Beyond material improvements, the team’s research on motion control algorithms has also made advances. These algorithms, which utilize residual body movements, have proven applicable to people with more severe disabilities, such as full or partial paralysis of the lower and upper limbs. “We found that our approaches could be adapted to offer control of an assistive robotic arm to individuals with a high level of paralysis,” adds Nathanaël Jarrassé.

This is the context in which the Smart Arm ROB project was born. “We have worked on control approaches based on movement for robotic arms mounted on wheelchairs,” explains Nathanaël Jarrassé. These devices, available for several years, are intended for people with significant disabilities like tetraplegia or locked-in syndrome. They allow users to perform everyday tasks like grabbing objects. However, controlling these arms remains challenging and restrictive.

“To overcome these limitations, we developed a robotic arm paired with an onboard computer and cameras that capture the person’s residual body movements, like those of the neck, shoulders, or torso, and then project them onto the robot. This offers a non-invasive solution suited to the users’ abilities,” explains the researcher. The team has also incorporated an augmented reality headset for head-based control. “The key to our innovations is to have different control components based on phantom movements, AI for decoding muscle contractions, body coordination, compensatory movements, etc., to provide a solution tailored to the individual, based on their abilities and preferences.”

To test their device, the team has been collaborating for several months with Étienne Moullet. This former ISIR doctoral student in neuroscience and robotics is tetraplegic and serves as the Smart Arm ROB team pilot for the Cybathlon 2024. “Étienne is an expert in robotic control issues,” highlights Nathanaël Jarrassé. Now a postdoctoral researcher at INRIA, he is working on using object recognition to optimize the control of functional electrical stimulation of hand muscles in tetraplegic individuals, helping them adopt the best grasp posture. “In the future, we hope to integrate a more sophisticated robotic hand that, thanks to Étienne’s research, could automatically select the best configuration for grabbing objects of different sizes and shapes,” says the researcher.

Until these latest developments are complete, pilots Étienne Moullet and Christophe Huchet train weekly with the ISIR scientific teams in preparation for the Cybathlon competition at the end of October. It is a true “real-world test” for these promising technologies.

More than just a competition, the Cybathlon is a technological showcase where devices developed for people with disabilities are tested in everyday tasks. Since the first edition in 2016, Nathanaël Jarrassé has been a strong advocate of the event. “Initially, we had doubts about the message conveyed by these competitions. But attending the event in Zurich, we realized how much it highlights the human aspect and stimulates research,” says the scientist.

The Cybathlon is unique in its focus on the daily challenges faced by people with disabilities, a crucial aspect according to Nathanaël Jarrassé: “The Cybathlon emphasizes that daily life, for people with disabilities, is a high-level sport.” This event pushes teams to adapt their technologies to users' needs and provides a unique environment to test devices in settings close to real life, far beyond laboratory conditions.

For Nathanaël Jarrassé and his team, the goal of the Cybathlon is not to win medals but to draw attention to research targeting often overlooked levels of disability. “We’re not here to win but to showcase our research, particularly on high-level upper limb amputations.” Unlike the focus on hand prosthetics, few studies focus on amputations at the elbow or shoulder, a crucial area. “These amputations often affect young, active individuals, workers, or farmers, for whom adapted solutions are essential,” explains the researcher.

Nathanaël Jarrassé’s ambition does not stop at the Cybathlon. “There’s the lab, the Cybathlon, but also the outside world,” he notes. This approach anticipates the future of research aimed at making these technologies practical for everyday life. This summer, pilot Christophe Huchet used the arm prosthesis at home for the first time, performing household tasks like emptying the dishwasher or cooking, outside the competitive Cybathlon setting. “This shows we’ve reached a new level of maturity and realism in our innovations,” says the researcher, whose team won a Cybathlon challenge in 2022.

Ultimately, one of the team’s goals is to transfer its innovations to industry so they can benefit a larger audience. “Our aim is for manufacturers to implement our control algorithms on existing commercial equipment to expand user capabilities,” he says. The Extender project led by Guillaume Morel, a professor of robotics at Sorbonne University, developed in partnership with the French company Orthopus, shares this ambition. Supported by public funding, it aims to produce a six-degree-of-freedom robotic assistive arm similar to the one used in the Cybathlon.

The team’s research is also part of a larger project called Réinvent. Supported by the PEPR O2R, this project began a few months ago and will span eight years with a budget of over 3.5 million euros. “It brings together partners from social sciences, clinical labs, and leading robotics and neuroscience teams in France,” explains Nathanaël Jarrassé. The objective is ambitious: “to explore ways of reinventing prosthetics,” states the researcher. The project aims to reconcile the individual needs of users with a renewed perception of prosthetic devices, following a multidisciplinary approach combining anthropology, technical ethnology, and user feedback.

Far from the myth of augmented humans and cyborgs, Nathanaël Jarrassé and his team continue to work in a humanistic and ethical approach to facilitate the lives of people with prosthetics and to raise public awareness of the daily challenges they face.

All events will be broadcast live from October 25 to 27 on the Cybathlon website.

Learn more about the competition’s full program.

All events will be broadcast live from October 25 to 27 on the Cybathlon website.

Discover the competition's full program.