MARCH III

“The main thing we want to achieve with an exoskeleton is allowing people with a spinal cord injury to participate in society like everyone else.” – Project MARCH

At this moment people with paralyzed or malfunctioning legs are bound to wheelchairs for the rest of their lives. Project MARCH, a Dreamteam of 24 students at TU Delft, wants to do something about this problem.

“We’re researching the exoskeleton technology and aim to push the field of biomedical technology regarding exoskeletons forward, which is underdeveloped at the moment.”

“Our team is very close. We work together for one year to achieve one goal: To build an exoskeleton, that makes people with a spinal cord injury stand up and walk again!
In order to make an exoskeleton that suits a person, there are a lot of parameters you need to keep in mind, for example usability, safety but aesthetics as well. So the design is always changing, which makes it a very challenging project.”

“Having it move in a natural way, turns out to be very important. So our short-term focus will be all about making the exoskeleton walk like a human instead of a robot. The exoskeletons will just get better and better. I imagine that in the future, you are going to the grocery store and you just see someone with an exoskeleton getting their groceries by themselves.”

The Cybathlon is like the Olympic Games, but then for people with a handicap who are using technologies to overcome obstacles. This competition is held every four years, but there’s a Cybathlon experience every year as a spin-off of the big competition. The MARCH III became first in the last competition.

“In the beginning we were really focussing on winning the Cybathlon, but after a while this focus started to change because we’re actually working on a greater goal. Of course is it nice to win, but giving people independency in life, is a much greater goal we are willing to achieve.”

Видео MARCH III канала TU Delft TV