A new Engineering student society started less than six months ago has won two awards at Queen Mary's Student Group Awards, an end-of-year awards scheme for Queen Mary Students’ Union-affiliated societies and volunteering groups.

Led by a cross-section of Engineering students, Cybathlon Society won the ‘Small Group with Big Impact’ and ‘Innovation & Development Honours’ awards.

Cybathlon Society is dedicated to exploring projects at the intersection of assistive technology, robotics, and human performance. They work on advancing cutting-edge innovations that empower individuals with disabilities, fostering interdisciplinary collaboration between engineers, designers, healthcare professionals and technology enthusiasts.

The society provides a platform for students to develop, test, and refine assistive devices, participate in Cybathlon-related challenges, and engage with industry experts.

Founding member Balvinder Dhillon said: “It’s honestly been such a journey building this from the ground up, finding our feet, experimenting with ideas, and just trying to create something meaningful.”

“These awards are a huge recognition to my team's hard work, our unexpected pivots, late night submissions and a shared belief that even a small group can make a real difference. None of this would have been possible without the brilliant team I have had the privilege to work with. I can't wait to see what the future holds for us!!”

Members Bohdan Skulimovskyi (Robotics), Tommy Hajdu (Robotics), Ella Louise Miller (Design) and Antoni Kocan (Mechanical) accepted the awards at the ceremony.

The rest of the team includes Seagull Nithyanandam (Mechanical), Charmaine Wong (Biomedical), Rindhiya Vishnu Shankar (Biomedical), Jensen Jill Rajesh (Biomedical) and Ria Chandarana (Biomedical).