The Vegan Marxist
19th July 2011, 05:12
Robots for Humanity help around the house, scratch your itch
By Joseph Volpe
July 14, 2011
http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2011/07/pr2willow-garage.jpg
Robots for Humanity? That certainly doesn't jibe with our notion of the upcoming cyborg apocalypse (http://www.engadget.com/tag/robot+apocalypse). And it shouldn't, considering this joint effort's noble aim is to assist the disabled (http://www.engadget.com/2011/02/19/mekas-m-1-mobile-manipulator-a-cuter-cody-the-spit-bath-robot/) with the everyday household chores most of us take for granted. The project, a collaboration between Willow Garage and Georgia Tech's Healthcare Robotics Lab, has been working with stroke victim Henry Evans to develop custom UIs that give him mastery of the human-assistive PR2 (http://www.engadget.com/2010/09/08/willow-garage-now-selling-the-pr2-for-400k-a-pop/) robot. These tailor-made, head-tracking interfaces have allowed the mute quadriplegic to partially shave his face and even scratch a previously unreachable ten-year itch -- all with the helping claw of the friendly bot. It's a compassionate use of cybernetic tech (http://www.engadget.com/2011/07/01/hal-exosuit-takes-a-cybernic-approach-to-disabled-tourism/) we're used to seeing come out of Japan (http://www.engadget.com/2010/04/02/fujitsus-robot-bear-designed-to-win-over-the-elderly/), and a welcome assist for disabled communities everywhere. Click past the break for a video demo of Henry and his robotic pal.
DqrrxPwBcU4
http://www.engadget.com/2011/07/14/robots-for-humanity-help-around-the-house-scratch-your-itch-vi/
By Joseph Volpe
July 14, 2011
http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2011/07/pr2willow-garage.jpg
Robots for Humanity? That certainly doesn't jibe with our notion of the upcoming cyborg apocalypse (http://www.engadget.com/tag/robot+apocalypse). And it shouldn't, considering this joint effort's noble aim is to assist the disabled (http://www.engadget.com/2011/02/19/mekas-m-1-mobile-manipulator-a-cuter-cody-the-spit-bath-robot/) with the everyday household chores most of us take for granted. The project, a collaboration between Willow Garage and Georgia Tech's Healthcare Robotics Lab, has been working with stroke victim Henry Evans to develop custom UIs that give him mastery of the human-assistive PR2 (http://www.engadget.com/2010/09/08/willow-garage-now-selling-the-pr2-for-400k-a-pop/) robot. These tailor-made, head-tracking interfaces have allowed the mute quadriplegic to partially shave his face and even scratch a previously unreachable ten-year itch -- all with the helping claw of the friendly bot. It's a compassionate use of cybernetic tech (http://www.engadget.com/2011/07/01/hal-exosuit-takes-a-cybernic-approach-to-disabled-tourism/) we're used to seeing come out of Japan (http://www.engadget.com/2010/04/02/fujitsus-robot-bear-designed-to-win-over-the-elderly/), and a welcome assist for disabled communities everywhere. Click past the break for a video demo of Henry and his robotic pal.
DqrrxPwBcU4
http://www.engadget.com/2011/07/14/robots-for-humanity-help-around-the-house-scratch-your-itch-vi/