SMART Walker

In my previous post, I have mentioned that wheelchairs must be made of convetional technologies while also being innovative. This "dream" wheelchair has come out: the SMART Walker. It is not exactly a wheelchair since there is no place for a patient to sit. However, it does the same role as a wheelchair, moving a patient around comfortably.

The SMART Walker is designed to help patients with paralysis or brain damage walk around. The good parts of this wheel chair is that it is quite simple to use, relatively light, and most importantly, it has the highest performance to price ratio compared to other products such as the iBot.



To begin with, a patient's feet are inserted on two platforms that are attached to a long handle. This connection help handicaps to maintain their balance while they are walking. The shoe on the two platforms are made by Piedro footwear, which provides extra comfort and sensitivity to the handicap. In addition, the tool is supported by four wheels that let the patient on the Walker to move more smoothly.

I hope that the National Rehabilitation Center would consider using this equipment. While being quite cheap, it is also very effective, teaching young disabilities to walk and older handicaps to move around freely. I am sure that the SMART Walker will provide a greater amount of freedom for handicaps.

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.

iBot Wheel-Chair

Wheel Chairs are continuing to improve in innovative ways. In the near future, scholars predict that wheel chairs could become mobile homes or offices for disabled people. One example of an innovative wheelchair is the iBot. The main problem of wheelchairs is that they can only travel flat, stable terrain. Steps are a nightmare for handicaps in wheelchairs. Fortunately, the iBot can easily climb stairs. The wheel-chair has three sets of wheels, two big, outer sets with one small, inner pair. The two large outer wheels can rotate and stack up on each other to let the handicap stand taller and move up stairs. The video below shows the way the iBot works on stairs.



Unfortunately, the iBot is not on sale for now because it was to expensive. However, I hope that innovative wheelchairs of the future will cost a reasonable price so that it can help a greater number of handicaps.

Esther Vergeer: The Wheel Chair Tennis Champ

Eesther Vergeer, 29, lost control over her legs when she was 8. Ever since, she has excelled in basketball and tennis, even in the wheel chair. When she became older, her parents advised her to practice tennis only so that she can show others that she was a normal person.

Now, she is the eleven-year champion of wheel chair tennis. She has one about four hundred matches without losing a single set. She has one over 96 percent of all the single matches she played, compared to Roger Federer's 81 percent. Her dominance in the sport is comparable to Tiger Wood's reign in professional golf. She most recently won the finals of the U.S. Open with a 6-1, 6-2 breezing victory. Her coach, Groeneveld, who also coaches many top female seeds, is constantly astounded by the strong determination of Esther.

Esther says she will continue to try her best until she is old enough to retire. However, she is not sure what she will do when she retires from professional wheel chair tennis.

Mt. Namsan "Million-Person" Walk

On September 11, 2010, the Seoul Metropolitan Government will be hosting the Mt. Namsan "Million-Person" Walk. It will be a 7.5 km trail around Mt. Namsan, the largest mountain in Seoul, the capital of South Korea. Many celebrities and famous people will be part of the walk. The contestants of the 2010 Miss South Korea Beauty Pageant and Hwang Young-Jo, the gold-medalist of the marathon even in the Barcelona Olympics, will be participate in this festival. Many participants will receive gifts encouraging the help of disabled people. The festival will last from 9:00 A.M. to 1:00 P.M. This is the first of numerous walking festivals for disabled people hosted by the Seoul Metropolitan Government.

Visit to the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH)

Me with Guoan Li
(I'm the one in the black shirt)

On July 21, 2010, I visited the bioengineering lab of the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH). It is one of the largest and the most prestigious hospitals in the world. Nearly ninety thousand people move in and out of the hospital. On July 21, 2010, I visited the bioengineering lab of the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH). The hospital boasts top-notch care, innovative research, and intensive teaching. It is most famous for its orthopedic studies. Led by Guoan Li, a Chinese professor, the group publishes many papers and performs hundreds of surgeries. That day, I toured around the research center. I met and talked with Guaon Li about his research. He said that he enjoys his research very much.

Me in front of a mechanical limb

Guoan Li and his crew create robots and other mechanical limbs in order to assist handicaps and other disabled people. In a large storage room beside his lab, there are multitudes of robot limbs. Thanks to their creations, the Massachusetts General Hospital uses them all the time in surgeries and rehabilitating patients.