After the success of last year with its first edition, the second Winter School on Wearable Robots (COST Action CA16116) was held this January 2020 in Obertauern, Austria. For one week, 64 participants from 14 different countries could learn about the latest developments in mechatronic design, control, biomechanics, ergonomics and human-robot interaction.
The mornings were lectures from outstanding speakers in wearable robotics and related topics: Jan Babic (Jozef Stefan Institute, Si), Strahinja Dosen (Aalborg University, DK), Hartmut Geyer (Carnegie Mellon University, USA), Michael Goldfarb (Vanderbilt University, USA), Ralph Hensel-Unger (Audi, De), Domenico Prattichizzo (University of Siena, It), Alexandra Kapeller (Linköping University, Se), Robert Riener (ETH Zürich, Ch), Massimo Sartori (University of Twente, NL) and Heike Vallery (Delft University of Technology, NL).
After the morning lectures, the participants enjoyed lunch and skiing in the wonderful slopes of Austrian Alps. The evenings were for mini-projects, where the trainees worked in groups on various topics: implementing novel control algorithms, evaluating the effects of a ski exoskeleton, designing new mechanisms for wheelchairs and developing interfaces for instrumented objects.
The format of the winter school allowed for many interactions in an informal and friendly atmosphere amongst the trainees and trainers, laying the foundation for future collaborations. As one of the participants said, “which better environment for networking with top scientists than a ski resort?”
The organizers gratefully acknowledge the support of the Dutch Wearable Robotics program (https://www.wearablerobotics.nl/) in the organization of the Winter School
The following photos show all the participants and speakers, and evening work on the mini projects.




