For over 10 years, an itch on his nose had been annoying Henry Evans. Many take such basic functions for granted, but not Evans. When he was 40, a stroke left him paralysed and mute. He can only move his head and partially move one finger. Evans could finally scratch that itch last year, and what's more, even shave, with the help of PR2, his personal robotic helper.
The robot is now starting to help Evans around the house, organising and fetching things. "The robot enables me to manipulate my physical environment. And any physical activity that I can control is huge," Evans wrote in an email to ET, from a computer designed specially for him. The ultimate goal of this project - led by Georgia Tech (Healthcare Robotics Lab, Professor Charlie Kemp) and PR2's Silicon Valleybased maker Willow Garage -- is to help the elderly live independently. Our world is, after all, ageing rapidly, primarily due to increased lifespans and declining fertility rates.
Article can be found at The Economic Times [1].