Paralyzed Man 'Flies' With a Quadrotor Drone

He may be paralyzed, but you shouldn't be surprised when he leaves for parts unknown with his quadrotor drone.

Technology is taking us farther into the future with each passing moment. These days, the hot topic of the popular TED Talks, which focus on technology, entertainment, and design, is drones—these robots can do everything from vacuuming your floor to destroying terrorist enclaves in the Middle East, and they may one day soon be delivering packages to your door. There's a great deal of debate as to whether the benefits of the drone outweigh the potential dangers—the two extremes seem to be whether drones will save the world or be the instrument of its destruction.

Quadriplegic Henry Evans is firmly on the "save the world" side of the debate. He recently delivered a TED talk that demonstrated how drones can allow those whose disabilities render them bedridden can not only allow them some degree of freedom in their lives, but can even give the sense of flight.

Evans, a husband and father of four, was stricken in 2002 with a stroke-like brain-stem disorder which rendered him mute and quadriplegic. While he has full use of his mental faculties, his range of movement is restricted to minute head movements and the use of a single finger. "I woke up in the ICU," he says, "unable to speak or move."

He acknowledges it took him months to really comprehend what had happened to him, and almost five years to decide that his life was still worth living, and he credits his wife and family for that revelation. He has now become a robotics pioneer in researching ways that drones can be used to help those with similar disabilities.

"I caught a CNN interview of Georgia Tech professor Charlie Kemp showing some research he'd done with Willow Garage's PR2 robot," he recalls, "and I immediately imagined using it as a body surrogate." He has founded an organization called Robots for Humanity, which helps people like Henry use robots and drones as a means to telecommute to school and work. These drones, equipped with cameras and microphones, allow the user the freedom to navigate the world in a much richer and interactive way. Evans uses his drone to do everything from checking his garden and the solar panels on his roof to playing robotic soccer with other drone users.

Henry has used robotic devices that track his limited range of movement to do everything from generating speech to the remote-control of robots. He even coached his son's football team using a speaking device that works by tracking the movements of his head and eyes on an alphabet board, and he's used a robot to shave someone 3,000 miles away. For Henry, the use of drones certainly falls into the "save the world" category, and he demonstrates it every day. Speaking of demonstrations, watch these videos to see how Henry "flies"! How do you think the use of drones will impact the planet?

Sources: io9.com/watch-how-a-paralyzed-man-can-use-a-quadrotor-drone mercurynews.com/business/ci_24288801/q-henry-evans-mute-quadriplegic-and-robotics-pioneer fpvcentral.net/2013/11/paralyzed-man-uses-fpv-drone-to-walk-around/ Image Sources: io9.com jordancooper.com research.gatech.edu medgadget.com azorobotics.com robotshop.com