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Academy Muli Epstein: “I think of
the people from the
Technion as a sort
of Rafael (Advanced
Defense Systems) for
Israeli sports—research
and development of groundbreaking,
innovative technologies for the benefit
of the country's top athletes”
heads the Center. Wolf’s research spans a wide
variety of areas, including medical robots for
surgery and rehabilitation, robots for search and
rescue missions, biomechanical research, and
the development of assistive technologies for
physically impaired and healthy individuals.
Like many other scientific inventions, such as
penicillin or the birth control pill, it all started example, or wind resistance is brought down to a
serendipitously. “Yair Talmon, scientific and
technical coordinator of the Olympic Committee’s
Elite Sports Unit, contacted me some years back,”
Wolf remembers. “He asked if I would like to host
a one-day seminar as part of the national program
for coaches. I brought in two of my colleagues—
Prof. Anath Fischer, a faculty member whose
research interests include 3D modeling and
computational geometry, and Prof. Amit Gefen
of Tel Aviv University, a biomechanics expert.
The Olympic Committee members were very
enthusiastic, and, after touring similar centers in
Europe, brought experts for a visit—and the ball
started rolling.”
The Center’s work is based on three principles:
The physiology of the athlete; the mechanics
of the athletic equipment, such as a pole or
a surfboard; and the interface between the
athlete and the equipment. “Take a cyclist, for
example,” Prof. Wolf explains, “the first aspect is
measuring muscular activity, the biomechanics
of locomotion, the reflexes, speed of response,
metabolic intake, etc. The second aspect is
how the bicycle, or even the aerodynamic
structure of the helmet, can be enhanced to
22 | MEgazine | Faculty of Mechanical Engineering
Gur Steinberg: “We find ourselves
investing in several fins of
different series in order to find
the optimal one for each surfer.
The research enables us
to accurately define
the various fins and
to match them
to the individual
surfer’s needs”
improve performance. The third aspect deals
with adjusting the bicycle and enhancing it
specifically for the athletes themselves, their
individual abilities, weaknesses, strengths,
and build. The objective here is to enable the
bicycle to best serve the specific cyclist, so that
energy is optimally transferred to the pedals, for
minimum.” As Prof. Wolf—the Technion’s incoming
Vice President—was among the collaboration’s
initiators, the Center is directly managed by the
Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, but in fact
encompasses the entire Technion. “The idea,”
Wolf clarifies, “is to turn the entire Technion
into one big Olympic sports research lab, with
research requirements determining the specific
lab involved.”
The Difference a Fin Makes
“We reached out to the Technion because we
understood that we won’t be able to get full
solutions to our needs from our natural strategic
partners, the Wingate Institute and the Meir
Medical Center,” says Muli Epstein, Chief Scientist
at the Olympic Committee of Israel.
Epstein is an exercise physiologist and physical
coach. Sports fans know him as an eloquent
television athletics commentator. He has worked
with Yael Arad, tennis player Shahar Pe'er,
Olympic medal-winning judoka Yarden Gerbi,
and Israel’s national basketball team. As head
of Wingate Institute’s National Program for Elite