IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine - September 2015 - 18

"for developing a simple robotic solution for insulating homes, thus positively impacting lives of people and
protecting the environment by reducing energy consumption" (Q-Bot).
More details on the winning entries are
described in "From Need to Innovation" and "Q-Bot-A Robotic Solution
for Insulation of Homes"
In its 11th year, the IERA award is
jointly sponsored and organized by
IEEE RAS and the International Federation of Robotics. It highlights and honors the achievements of inventors with
value-creating ideas and entrepreneurs
who propel those ideas into world-class
products. The entries are evaluated
based on criteria that give equal consideration to both innovation and entrepreneurship. The winners were awarded a
plaque and a US$2,000 cash prize, which
will be shared by the joint winners this
year. For additional details on the
award and a list of the winners from the
previous ten years, see http://www.
ieee-ras.org/industry-government/
ifr-forum/.

●

Figure 1. From left: Raj Madhavan, awards chair and IEEE RAS vice president, Industrial
Activities Board; Tom Lipinski of Q-Bot Limited; François Boucher of Kinova Inc.; and
Raja Chatila; IEEE RAS president. (Photo courtesy of ICRA 2015.)

As witnessed by the joint award, the
judges had a difficult time coming up
with a single winner. The six-member
judging panel consisted of Dominik
Bösl (KUKA, Germany), Werner Kraus
Jr. (Fraunhofer IPA, Germany), Raj
Madhavan [awards chair and vice president, IEEE Robotics and Automation
Society (RAS) Industrial Activities
Board], Mario Munich (iRobot, United
States), Erwin Prassler (runfun, Germa-

ny) and Nicola Tomatis (Bluebotics,
Switzerland). Both Rainer Bischoff
(KUKA, Germany) and Alexander Verl
(Fraunhofer IPA, Germany) served as
judges in the first phase to determine the
three finalists.
The panel wrote the following citations in announcing the two winners:
● "for providing an easy-to-use robotic
solution that enhances the autonomy
of disabled people" (Kinova)

From Need to Innovation
By François Boucher

he story of JACO is that of a man
who yearned to be productive.
Jacques Forest's inventiveness was
matched only by his desire to be
independent. One of three brothers from
Quebec, Canada, afflicted with muscular
dystrophy, Jacques was confined to a
power wheelchair and could only control
his left thumb. But Jacques had something
that could not be defined by a mere disease or the limits of his body-he had a
vision he was determined to see realized.
A passionate and lifelong inventor,
Jacques, known to his family and friends
as Jaco, devised and built from 1984 to
1997, a robotic arm that was attached to
his power wheelchair and allowed him
to perform simple tasks previously rendered impossible by his physical state.
Jaco's first act with his new arm was to
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MRA.2015.2468311
Date of publication: 11 September 2015

IEEE ROBOTICS & AUTOMATION MAGAZINE

fulfill his vision. He went outside to the
family garden, picked a rose, and
brought it back inside, where he presented it to his sister. This simple act of affection, borne of his creativity and
persistence, inspired a nation and began
the journey that has led to JACO.
Although Jaco died in 1999, Charles
Deguire, motivated and inspired by his
inventive Uncle Jaco, took up his robotic
arm idea and elaborated on it by
cofounding Kinova in 2006 to build an
assistive robot arm for people with
upper-body disabilities. He named the
robot, JACO, after his uncle.
Launched in 2010, JACO is a six-axis
robotic manipulator arm with a three-fingered hand. This little marvel of engineering significantly improves the lives of
persons with reduced mobility. Lightweight, very quiet, unobtrusive, safe, and
even weatherproof, JACO assists anyone
with an upper-body mobility impairment

September 2015

to perform complex actions. Many everyday activities, such as picking up glasses,
holding a fork, or opening a door, which
most people do without thinking, can
become insurmountable for people who
have a disability, and they have to ask
someone else to do it for them. The
JACO arm makes life easier for these
people by giving them greater freedom
and independence.
Arm
JACO moves smoothly and silently
around six degrees of freedom, with
unlimited rotation on each axis. The
joints are modular aluminum compact
actuators of a unique design that integrates a dc brushless motor, harmonic
drive, slip rings, microcontroller, and sensors for torque, current, position, temperature, and acceleration. Its main structure,
entirely made of carbon fiber, delivers
optimal robustness and durability as well

http://www http://www.ieee-ras.org/industry-government/

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine - September 2015