During a practice session prior to Cybathlon, Tyson Cobb straps Mark Daniel into the exo. Credit: Brian Blickenstaff
When the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, known simply as ETH, first announced the Cybathlon, engineering groups around the world jumped at chance to showcase their cutting edge technology designed to enhance the lives of disabled people. In total, 66 teams from 25 countries would take part. Organizers hope to make it a quadrennial competition, and smaller, more frequent regional competitions are already in the works.
A competitor on a Functional Electrical Stimulation Bike. Credit: Brian Blickenstaff
Daniel during a practice walk. Credit: Brian Blickenstaff
Daniel grew up outside Pensacola. He spent his childhood largely seated on a dirt bike. "I started on a dirt bike when I was four, five years old," he says, "and by the time I was seven, I blew that dirt bike up."He loved the power, the acceleration, the rush he got from the bikes, and admits to being the family daredevil. Dirt bikes taught him to weigh risk and reward and to fall gracefully."I didn't know Mark before he was in a wheelchair," Cobb says to me at one point, "but I bet he was fucking wild."Here in Zurich, Daniel constantly looks for hills to ride down. His chair does not have breaks, and he stops by touching his fingers to the wheels. The tires have treads like a dirt bike's. He does his best to avoid elevators, and holds a special affinity for escalators. He rides them with his feet facing up, his arms spread wide to grip the handrails. Neuhaus stands directly behind him, a step or two below, just in case. Daniel likes to wait until they're about halfway up or down, when Neuhaus has begun to relax, before pretending to lose his balance.The two make something of an odd couple. Neuhaus, who is in his 40s, is married with two daughters. He earned his PhD in mechanical engineering from Berkeley and did his undergrad at MIT. He has a runner's build, short brown hair, and a casual West Coast demeanor. He speaks with a faint lisp but no placeable accent. Daniel is an outdoorsman, born and raised on the Redneck Riviera. When he doesn't hear someone properly, he responds with "Sir?" or "Ma'am?" He has a background in welding, a trade he learned at Job Corps, a Department of Education program that is as much halfway house as it is vocational training center. Students at Job Corps are not allowed to leave. They sleep and study on the same campus. Daniel likens it to a prison, but credits it with saving his life. When he went to Job Corps, in Greenville, Kentucky, he was 17 years old and addicted to cocaine.
IHMC pilot Mark Daniel and team leader Peter Neuhaus. Credit: ETH Zürich/Alessandro Della Bella
As Daniel, Cobb, and Neuhaus prepare in the Cybathlon staging area, competitors in the exo category's first heat make their way to the starting line. The heat includes just three teams: Neuro Walk, from Russia; SG Mechatronics, from South Korea; and a Mexican team, Roki.The race consists of a six-part obstacle course. The competitors have ten minutes to complete the circuit. They and earn points for each obstacle they complete and can skip as many as they want. The obstacles are weighted for difficulty and competitors progress from easiest to hardest, as follows: They must sit down on and stand up from a low IKEA couch; walk a short slalom; walk up a ramp, open and shut a door, and descend another ramp; walk along a number of unevenly spaced stepping stones; walk across two angled platforms; and, finally, walk up and down a flight of stairs.Neuro Walk's sleek, white exo appears to malfunction before the race even begins. After huddling around the pilot, troubleshooting the problem, the Russian engineers pick him up and carry him to the starting line, exo and all. The others assemble without incident. Once set, a baritone, robotic voice counts down, and numbers flash on the Jumbotron screen. Three. Two. One….
IHMC and Roki pose together the day before Cybathlon. Credit: Brian Blickenstaff
As Daniel approaches the starting line, some IHMC team members can't watch. Suddenly everyone is superstitious. Smith tells me his mere presence is "bad voodoo." He doesn't watch with the rest of the team. Other engineers admit to having a kind of cursed touch. They're only allowed to handle the unit once it's broken. If everything goes to plan, they won't touch it in Europe at all.Daniel puts on an impressive performance, acing the stepping stones—the event he feared most. His exo is the only exo in the competition with actuators on his ankles, which generate power like a human calf muscle. The feature allows Daniel to generate forward momentum even after a particularly large step, when his legs are spread wide. But while the ability to "toe off" is an advantage on the stepping stones' large steps, the plates under his feet make lateral balance tricky, and the team decided to skip the slanted path. The risk of him falling wasn't worth it.Daniel finishes the heat seconds behind a 44-year-old German named Andre Van Rueschen, whose exoskeleton, made by a company called ReWalk, is probably the world's leading commercial model.
IHMC pilot Mark Daniel preparing to stand from the couch. Credit: ETH Zürich/Alessandro Della Bella
Standing on the starting line ahead of the final, a television camera closes in on Daniel, and he smiles broadly, his image filling the Jumbotron."Look at Mark, cheesing for the camera," Craig says.The crowd roars in anticipation. A huge drone made to look like a human eye hovers overhead. The event's two horrifying mascots, which look like large, post-apocalyptic troll dolls, wrestle in the area behind the starting line. The robotic voice counts down. Daniel heads for the couch.He sits first and begins to stand, but his crutches slip twice. Still, he gets to his feet before the others. He walks the slalom in first place, but ReWalk catches him on the ramp and beats him to the door. It's close. They're within seconds of each other. They make it through the doorway at the same time, closing the doors almost simultaneously. But at the bottom of the ramp, Daniel loses his balance and begins to teeter."He's got it," Craig yells at the three spotters around Daniel, who are raising their hands and preparing to grab him. Craig doesn't want them to touch Daniel unless he's really falling—if they help him, he'll be disqualified from that obstacle. "He's got it!"After a wobbly second or two, Daniel recovers without assistance. Deep breath. He proceeds across the stepping stones. The Korean pilot isn't far behind. Daniel clears them without trouble. The Korean pilot does not. After a couple steps, his exo's legs visibly bend out at the knees. They appear to be buckling, but sideways. As fans around the arena brace themselves for a sickening fall, the spotters step in and grab him. His race is over.
Korean pilot Byeongwook Kim on the stepping stones. Credit: ETH Zürich/Alessandro Della Bella
In the locker room after the race, the team talks about celebration. Is the concession stand still open? How much is a beer? Nobody knows.What they do know is that second place is a hell of a finish. Before the Cybathlon, they thought they would be competitive, but nobody expected a medal. Furthermore, they'd beaten several production exos and lost by the faintest of margins to a man who has owned his exo for more than two years. Van Rueschen uses it at home all the time. Daniel had practiced in the IHMC unit for exactly two months."It keeps us relevant," Neuhaus says later. "We survive on our reputation."
IHMC Pilot Mark Daniel and Cybathlon champion Van Reuschen. Tyson Cobb looks on. Credit: ETH Zürich/Alessandro Della Bella