Visiting the Korean National Rehabilitation Center again

Me in front of the
 map of the NRC

Today, I visited the Korean National Rehabilitation Center again. There, I helped the nurses finish their work and entertained the patients. I met a female patient who could not talk. She was about twenty-three years old and her entire body was curved inwards, making her look small relative to her age. I read a simple picture book to her so that she does not stay bored. The book was a series of memoirs, all of which were written by handicapps who overcame their disabilities and became renowned people. Although she could not tell me that she enjoyed it, her facial expressions and grunts told me that she loved the stories.

Beside her was another female patient, the same age as me. Her legs were paralyzed, which meant that she could thankfully use her upper body. However, she was extremely shy, barely communicating with me, except for nods and short replies. For she was an intelligent patient, she owned a special computer, in which she learned many new things every day. However, the computer was operated by her brain signals and eyes. The mouse was controlled by the eye, and the letters were written by her brain signals and slight movements in her hands. I was quite amazed by how she operated her computer.

Research building of the NRC

Finally, I also helped the workers at the hospital. I assisted in cleaning the patients' quarters, copying documents, and feeding the handicaps. Again, I felt that disablities were similar, in fact, same as regular humans. They are just as kind, if not more, as normal people, although they have a slightly different view of life. I can understand how their physical body leads many to believe that they are different people. However, I hope that I can visit the NRC again in the near future.

Reducing the Price of the iBot

As I mentioned in my previous article, the iBot is an exceptionally helpful automatic wheel-chair, allowing the user to deftly climb up stairs and stand as tall as normal people. Unfortunately, its cost is extremely high, reaching nearly $20,000. The company Johnson & Johnson has stopped producing iBots because its expenditure on the product was higher than its revenue. Not many disabilities have bought the product because of its unusually high price. Disabled people do not have enough money because they cannot work in careers. Therefore, demanding such a high price for an indispensable wheel-chair robot is outrageous. Fortunately, there are several ways to reduce the price of the iBot.

To begin with, the price of the iBot can be reduced by convincing the world's largest companies, including Microsoft, Google, and Apple, to help pay for an research and engineering team for the iBot. Up until now, one company, Johnson & Johnson, has paid for the research, resulting in a large expenditure. On the other hand, if several major companies cooperate to manage a large research team of scientists, the expenditure for each company drops significantly and the public image of those philantrhopic companies would improve.

Second, the iBot could be redisgned and remade, but this time considering the price of the new product. The team of researchers should use conventional technology in producing the motor, wheels, frame, and seat of the iBot. All four of these components in the original iBot were made by using cutting-edge and avant-garde technology. By using conventional technology, the price of the iBot would significantly drop since the technology being used is already widespread in many other products.
Finally, major companies, governments, and non-profit organizations can pay for a fraction of the cost of the iBot. Handicaps are unable to earn money because of their lack of control over their bodies. Therefore, these wealthy corporations could help disabilities by giving money to disabilities so that they just need to pay for a certain amount of the original cost.

In conclusion, we can lower the cost of the iBot by convincing large companies to pay for a major research team, redesign and remake the iBot with considering the new price, and non-profit organizations and governments can pay for a certain fraction of the cost, making the price disabilities need to pay lower.