Robotic Wheelchair Revolution | Freethink Superhuman скачать в хорошем качестве

Robotic Wheelchair Revolution | Freethink Superhuman

A truck put Rory Cooper in a wheelchair - but now he's building the robotic wheelchairs of the future. Subscribe: https://freeth.ink/instant-sub-roryco... Rory Cooper’s life has been anything but a straight path. A runner in high school and in the army, his life was derailed by a severe car accident that caused a terrible spinal cord injury and other internal damage, leaving him a paraplegic. However, it didn’t slow him down - he immediately got into wheelchair racing. Not only that, he decided to invent a better wheelchair. He studied electrical engineering and bioengineering, because he knew he could do better than the bulky old one he was given. As a full-fledged bioengineer, he got to work and kept improving the design through the present day. Now, he’s the head of a laboratory at the University of Pittsburgh working on robotic wheelchair designs that can recognize the elements in their environment and use robot arms to engage with them. Rory’s hope is that this technology will allow wheelchair-bound people to live and engage in the world at a whole new level. He’s joined in his quest by the other members of his laboratory, a group of disabled and non-disabled people working side by side to literally reinvent the wheelchair. Rory won’t be satisfied by a prototype - as he says, “you can create wonderful technology, but if you can’t get it to market, can’t get it reimbursed, can’t get it into people’s hands, what impact did you really have?” He’s hopeful that this technology can make it into wheelchairs everywhere and help millions of disabled people and particularly disabled veterans like him. What do you think? What capabilities would you like to see in the wheelchairs of the future? How will this fit in with other developing technologies for people with paralysis, like spinal cord surgery, electrical stimulation, and exoskeletons? Let us know in the comments and subscribe for new videos every week. For more stories profiling pioneers of science and tech innovation, subscribe to Freethink on YouTube: https://freeth.ink/youtube-subscribe-toc Join the Freethink forum for people interested in making a difference:   / freethinkforum   And follow Freethink across other platforms here: Facebook:   / freethinkmedia   Twitter:   / freethinkmedia   Instagram:   / freethink   Website: http://www.freethink.com