IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine - June 2014 - 15

at Henry's home, which gave Henry a
new world to explore. He was able to fly
the device over his yard and inspect the
grapes in his vineyard and fly it over his
home to see the solar panels that had
been installed there.
When Chad went home to Rhode
Island, he invited Henry to visit him
through a Beam remote presence system. Although Henry cannot speak, he
used the Beam to look around and play
soccer using the Beam's base to move
the ball around. He also flew Chad's
quadrotors through a Hula-Hoop in
the lab there. Henry's description of
this remarkable use of technology to go
places and do things he had not been
able to do with his disability was presented as a TedX talk that has been
viewed almost a million times and
translated into 25 languages (you can
find a link to it on http://r4h.org).
Henry's goal is not just to use the
technology to help himself but to make
it available to people in situations simi-

lar to his around the world. He has
made it his mission to get quadriplegics
to "go with him" virtually to museums
and other places of interest. He is working to arrange soccer tournaments for
quadriplegics using robotic technology.
In short, his work is making it so that
being quadriplegic and mute does not
mean being confined to a room in an
institution for the rest of your life.
Stuart Turner
Stuart Turner is a quadriplegic in Manchester who got involved with Robots for
Humanity through Raffaello D'Andrea.
Stuart says, "I saw a TEDTalk of his about
drones being flown on YouTube, and I
was struck by the idea, to say the least. I
emailed him to see if he could help or advise me in accessing drones, as I'm quadriplegic and can't just pick up a remote
controller. He put me in touch with Prof.
Chad [Jenkins], and I learned then about
R4H. It's a fascinating project, and I'm
massively glad to be involved."

Stuart connects to the lab in Providence and flies a Parrot AR Drone ("often
into the walls, floor, or passing students")
using a Web interface. He talks to Chad
and his grad students and gives feedback
that they use to make changes to the interface. He has also used a Beam telepresence robot to walk around the campus
and talk to some of the students, all from
3.5 mi away.
Robots have had a profound impact
on Stuart's life. As he puts it, "From the
first moment I 'walked' down the corridor at Brown, I began to imagine the
possibilities for people like me. I have
been restricted to my bedroom for many
years, as my wheelchair is so large it can't
pass through the doorway. But robotsfrobots can go places we can't, and
that's true for everybody: they can clean
up nuclear waste in Japan, explore the
moon, Mars, the inhospitable atmospheres of gas giants, or fly through the
halls of a university. It's all part of the
same idea: robots expand our reach."

June 2014

IEEE ROBOTICS & AUTOMATION MAGAZINE

http://www.r4h.org

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine - June 2014