Henry Evans and Chad Jenkins: Meet the robots for humanity
הנראי אוונס וצ'אד ג'נקינגז: תכירו את רובוטים לאנושיות
In 2003, Henry Evans became quadriplegic and mute after a stroke-like attack. Now, working with Robots for Humanity, he's a pioneer in adaptive robotic tech to help him, and other disabled people like him, navigate the world. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
Los Altos Hills, California,
in accounting and German,
to move up the career ladder,
caused by a birth defect.
into cursor movements,
Steve Cousins of Willow Garage,
wants to go 60 miles an hour,
any less of a person,
good enough with this interface
from my home 3,000 miles away.
off-the-shelf robot platforms
only 17,000 dollars,
unlock everyone's mental power
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Henry Evans - Robotics activistIn 2003, Henry Evans became quadriplegic and mute after a stroke-like attack. Now, working with Robots for Humanity, he's a pioneer in adaptive robotic tech to help him, and other disabled people like him, navigate the world.
Why you should listen
At age 40, Henry Evans was left mute and quadriplegic after a stroke-like attack caused by a hidden birth defect. Years of therapy helped him learn to move his head and use a finger -- which allows him to use a head-tracking device to communicate with a computer using experimental interfaces.
Now, Evans is a frequent and enthusiastic collaborator with robotics teams who are developing tools to help the severely disabled navigate their lives. He collaborates with Georgia Tech professor Charlie Kemp on using the Willow Garage PR2 robot as a surrogate, as well as Chad Jenkins' RLAB at Brown on quadrotors for expanding range of motion.
As the Willow Garage blog post says: "Every day, people take for granted the simple act of scratching an itch. In Henry's case, 2-3 times every hour of every day he gets an itch he can't scratch. With the aid of a PR2, Henry was able to scratch an itch for himself for the first time in 10 years."
Henry Evans | Speaker | TED.com