So Henry Evans had a stroke at 40, and can now move only his head and a finger. The mad robot scientists at Willow Garage (in part funded by a National Science Foundation grant) have developed an interface with their PR2 robot that allows Evans to remotely do all kinds of everyday stuff he’s been unable to do on his own.
So props to all involved – have a look at the video below – this is a short glimpse of the future of telepresence and yet another example of technology extending the reach of disabled people. As with the earlier post about blind people working with self-driving cars, these systems are at the moment kinda taking a dry run with disabled humans – as they advance, these technologies will make their way into all our lives.
And finally, with that last nail, I’m going to go ahead and bury the coffin containing the words of Tom Coburn, (R) Oklahomo, I mean “a,” and I’ll stop pointing out, at least at Coburn’s expense, the obvious and readily understandable benefits of the program he derided whilst admittedly knowing nothing about it. That is, if he shuts up.
