Wednesday, October 2, 2013

Post #4-Kindness with Independence

Hello everyone,

Today, I found a wonderful story while searching the web that I thought I would share with you.  A team of Rice University engineering students won their George R. Brown School of Engineering Design and Showcase Competition last April for their design that assisted a young man gain his freedom back.  The students came across a young man with a rare disease called osteogenesis imperfecta, which makes a person’s bones extremely brittle.  The young man uses a power wheelchair, and he often times has trouble grabbing for items that are not in his reach.  This team of engineers decided to make it their mission to help the young man gain independence.  They called it the R-ARM, a robotic arm which attaches to the back of his power chair.  The arm is operated by a simple game controller which allows the young man to grab just about anything with a touch of a button.  The students are glad they could help the young man, and in the future they hope to make improvements to the device over the years.  Eventually, the group wants to start a business plan and begin marketing the product.  I am glad to see that there is technology out there which provides a great deal of assistance.  This story is very personal to me because I have a disability.  At times in my life, I have struggled to gain my independence, but with the use of technology I am now able to be fully independent.  Thanks to a group of engineering students, a young man’s life will never be the same again.  Well, that’s all for now folks.  Stay kind and kindness will return!

Dallas Hathaway


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