SCI-Mobility Laboratory inaugurated

11.04.2022 The SCI-Mobility Laboratory (SCI: spinal cord injury) that was inaugurated on 7 April 2022 is dedicated to vehicles for people with limited mobility. It is headed by Sebastian Tobler, professor of vehicle engineering and himself a quadriplegic.

Assisting people with reduced mobility to get around is an important topic. The lack of information about mobility aids and the lack of interest in developing innovative solutions complicate the everyday life of users. “The SCI Mobility Lab aims to understand and innovate the mobility options of people with reduced mobility,” Tobler said at the inauguration of the lab on 7 April 2022. “By integrating people with reduced mobility into the lab, adapted solutions will be found.” After his accident in 2013, Sebastian Tobler used his expertise to regain his freedom and as much mobility as possible. In 2016, he founded the start-up GBY AG (Go By Yourself). There he develops tricycles that move the arms and legs of people with limited mobility. Now he is setting up a research laboratory at BFH, where he has been teaching since 2008.

Embedded in the Department of Engineering and Computer Science and open to the outside

The laboratory complements the Institute of Energy and Mobility Research and benefits from the Institute's vehicle mechanics and safety units and its connection to the Dynamic Test Center in Vauffelin. At the interface with the fields of medicine and health, the lab strives for close collaboration with the Institute for Rehabilitation and Performance Technology and the BFH Centre Health Technologies, which includes the Department of Health's physiotherapy unit. There are also external partnerships, such as with the NeuroRestore Center, where neuromodular therapies for patients with limited mobility are developed, or the Swiss Paraplegic Centre in Nottwil.

Decisive improvements in the areas of rehabilitation, sport and freedom of movement

The laboratory's specialists test products that are already available to users and industry. By developing new vehicles and producing prototypes, they make an innovative contribution to increasing the safety, comfort and autonomy of the people concerned. At the moment, the team is working on projects that will bring decisive improvements in the areas of rehabilitation, sports and freedom of movement for people who use mobility aids

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