{"68969":{"#nid":"68969","#data":{"type":"news","title":"\u2018Robots for Humanity\u2019 Helps Man with Quadriplegia Perform Daily Tasks","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ESince his stroke 10 years ago, Henry Evans has been unable to scratch an itch or shave his own face.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBut now, even though he suffers from quadriplegia, he can scratch himself and shave his cheek with the aid of a Personal Robot 2 (PR2) in a laboratory setting.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThese successes come out of a new project called Robots for Humanity, a collaboration of the Georgia Institute of Technology, Willow Garage and Henry and Jane Evans of Palo Alto, Calif.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe initial steps show great potential for the role of personal robots in assisting individuals with disabilities.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThis is just the beginning,\u201d said Charlie Kemp, director of the Healthcare Robotics Lab at Georgia Tech and assistant professor of biomedical engineering. \u201cWe hope to really push on these technologies so robots like this can actually help people every day. \u201c\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe Robots for Humanity project started somewhat serendipitously. Last year, Henry Evans saw Kemp on CNN demonstrating his research with the PR2, a robot built by private research lab Willow Garage. Evans was excited about the robot\u2019s potential to help him, so he contacted Willow Garage and Kemp to see if they would be willing to work with him.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ESince January, the team has been crafting various interfaces, tools and control software to help Evans perform more tasks on his own. In March, Kemp and members from his research team \u2013 Georgia Tech graduate students Tiffany Chen, Philip Grice and Hai Nguyen \u2013 flew to California to work with Willow Garage researchers and Henry and Jane Evans. At this meeting, Evans controlled the robot to scratch his own face for the first time in 10 years. Researchers also went to the Evans\u2019 home to learn more about Henry and his needs.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAfter years of physical therapy, Evans can move a \u0026nbsp;finger and his head, which allows him to use computers. In addition to bringing the team together, Evans has been instrumental in design and execution of the research, Kemp said.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cHenry is very much a collaborator in the process,\u201d Kemp said. \u0026nbsp;\u201cHe gives us expert end-user suggestions, actively contributes valuable ideas and is highly motivating with his passion and charisma. He\u0027s definitely one of the project leaders. He also has a good engineering sense.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ESince the start of the project, Evans has virtually visited Kemp\u2019s lab at Georgia Tech many times to help develop and test the PR2\u2019s controls via a web-based interface.\u0026nbsp; Before the project got off the ground, Evans used PowerPoint to design a layout for an interface, which guided the first implementation.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cUsing new web technologies, we\u2019ve set up all the controls so they are entirely in the web browser,\u201d said Georgia Tech graduate student Philip Grice. \u201cHenry can use the interface from his home in California and control the robot here in Atlanta. There is nothing he has to download.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EKemp, and team members Chen, Grice and Kelsey Hawkins, returned to California in June to work with Willow Garage and Evans, testing methods for shaving and scratching. It was then that Evans was able shave his cheek.\u0026nbsp; Back in Atlanta, Kemp\u2019s post doc Chih-Hung Aaron King has been a key part of the project as well.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EUsing a head tracker to operate a variety of experimental user interfaces, Evans can directly move the robot\u0027s body, including its arms and head. He can also invoke the robot\u2019s autonomous actions. For example, Evans was able to click on his head in a camera image to command the robot to autonomously navigate up to his wheelchair and reach out to a clicked location, so that the scratching tool was close to his face.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAn important challenge going forward, Kemp said, is to enable Evans to use the robot on his own without researchers looking over his shoulder. Each time Evans uses the robot, he must be accompanied by researchers ready to intervene in case something goes wrong.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EGiven the success so far, the team is excited to push forward on the project.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWe think it\u0027s an incredibly compelling use of a general-purpose robot,\u201d said Steve Cousins, CEO of Willow Garage, a company that develops hardware and open source software for personal robotics applications. \u201cRobotic technologies that augment people\u0027s abilities will definitely become more common over time.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ESince his stroke 10 years ago, Henry Evans has been unable to scratch an itch or shave his own face. But now, even though he has significant motor impairments, he can scratch himself and shave his cheek with the aid of a Personal Robot 2 (PR2) in a laboratory setting.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Henry Evans can scratch his face and shave his cheek with the aid of a Personal Robot 2 (PR2)."}],"uid":"27462","created_gmt":"2011-07-27 10:18:52","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:09:48","author":"Liz Klipp","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2011-07-27T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2011-07-27T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"68970":{"id":"68970","type":"image","title":"Robots for Humanity - 1","body":null,"created":"1449177214","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 21:13:34","changed":"1475894602","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:43:22","alt":"Robots for Humanity - 1","file":{"fid":"193369","name":"robots_for_humanity_-1.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/robots_for_humanity_-1_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/robots_for_humanity_-1_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":1683354,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/robots_for_humanity_-1_0.jpg?itok=valuAYWf"}},"68971":{"id":"68971","type":"image","title":"Robots for Humanity - 2","body":null,"created":"1449177214","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 21:13:34","changed":"1475894602","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:43:22","alt":"Robots for Humanity - 2","file":{"fid":"193370","name":"robots_for_humanity_-_2.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/robots_for_humanity_-_2_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/robots_for_humanity_-_2_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":3290821,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/robots_for_humanity_-_2_0.jpg?itok=Q_e6pm30"}}},"media_ids":["68970","68971"],"related_links":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.willowgarage.com\/blog\/2011\/07\/13\/robots-humanity","title":"Video on Robots for Humanity Project"},{"url":"http:\/\/www.willowgarage.com\/","title":"Willow Garage"},{"url":"http:\\\\charliekemp.com","title":"Charlie Kemp\u0027s Homepage"},{"url":"http:\\\\healthcare-robotics.com","title":"Georgia Tech\u0027s Healthcare Robotics Lab"}],"groups":[{"id":"1183","name":"Home"}],"categories":[{"id":"135","name":"Research"}],"keywords":[{"id":"13781","name":"College of Engineering; Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering; Healthcare Robotics Lab; Charlie Kemp; PR2; Robots for Humanity"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EGeorgia Tech Media Relations\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003ELaura Diamond\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:laura.diamond@comm.gatech.edu\u0022\u003Elaura.diamond@comm.gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E404-894-6016\u003Cbr \/\u003EJason Maderer\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:maderer@gatech.edu\u0022\u003Emaderer@gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E404-660-2926\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["klipp@gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}