Graduates cheer as paralyzed student walks to get degree with robotic exoskelton

[Numenorean]

have you ever torn the tag off a matress?

No, I don't believe so. They just end up tucked under anyway.

And besides, that isn't illegal if you own the mattress.

 

[manimal]

No, I don't believe so. They just end up tucked under anyway.

And besides, that isn't illegal if you own the mattress.

have you ever torrented a movie?



have you ever eaten a piece of candy from the bulk stacks at the grocery store?

 

[Numenorean]

have you ever torrented a movie?



have you ever eaten a piece of candy from the bulk stacks at the grocery store?

No and no.

 

[Josh123]

Not only does he have mechanical legs, he has body guards to protect him.

 

[Kev]

They gave robot legs to a kid who was drunk driving and injured himself?

Cue the ATOT Never-made-a-mistake club...

 

[purbeast0]

lol @ all the fucking perfectionists coming out.

the article doesn't even state how much he had been drinking. for all we know he could have had 1 beer and it had absolutely no effect on his driving.

ATOT never seems to amaze me.

go on with your bad selves you multimillionaires at the age of 20 with dime girlfriends.

it wouldn't be ATOT if people didn't have to shit on a feel good story.

 

[Specop 007]

let the one who has never erred or sinned throw the first stone at this kid....


a few of you really make me sick...

what does my sin have to do with thinking theres more deserving people to provide this technology to?

I mean come the fuck on. The guy was a drunk driver who wrapped his tree around a pole. You know what I'm thankful for? That the only person he managed to fuck up was himself and not someone else.

 

[ShadowOfMyself]

Holy shit I think Jesus is posting in this thread and his alias is Numenorean

 

[Fayd]

People make mistakes, but generally aren't rewarded with something of this magnitude for them.

Basically




this ^

rewarded?

did you see the video? he's having severe trouble walking. it's more of a symbolic thing than anything. he's still got a severed spinal column, and still can't move his legs without the aid of this exoskeleton.

i hardly see that as a reward, and don't feel the need to trash talk the guy because he made a mistake several years ago.

 

[SandEagle]

he was a 4.0 in high school smart kid, one stupid mistake. he's lucky to be alive. glad to see he's trying to make a difference. instead of sitting in his chair sulkiing and playing WoW, like most of youz would have done

http://www.austinwhitney.com/About_Austin.html
Austin Whitney
Inspirational and Preventative Speaker
Austin Whitney grew up and attended high school in San Juan Capistrano. There, he was involved in student government, played sports, directed and acted in plays, and graduated in 2007 with a 4.0. One month after that, on July 21, 2007 he lost control of his car and struck a tree after drinking with some friends. He instantly severed his spinal cord, paralyzing him from the waist down, and almost killed himself and best friend. After a painful and insightful recovery, Austin started attending college classes 10 days after being released from the hospital. He swore off drinking and dedicated his life to spreading the lessons he learned about drunk driving and the importance of attitude to high schoolers around California and beyond. Four years later, having lost no time to the accident, he was able to graduate from UC Berkeley with a Political Science/History double major in May 2011 and soon plans on attending law school and dreams of working in the entertainment industry. He also is working on getting his scuba diving instructor certification and loves music festivals, social activism, wheelchair sports, the Swim With Mike Foundation, and raising money for the Wheelchair Foundation.

 

[Ruptga]

Who cares if there are more "deserving" people that could have been their test pilot? The robotics team needed a test pilot and he was convenient. They didn't build a prototype so that the most "deserving" person on the planet could walk to a podium; they built it so that all paraplegics can live more productive lives. Quit fixating on the test pilot.

 

[MetalMat]

Numenorean sounds like a party animal

 

[Gooberlx2]

No and no.

Dude, you're pretty fucking square.

 

[TheVrolok]

Cue the ATOT Never-made-a-mistake club...

We already covered this.

 

[Numenorean]

Dude, you're pretty fucking square.

lol...he didn't ask if I've ever copied a movie though :sneaky:

 

[her209]

That was only two steps and he's using a walker.

 

[MetalMat]

That was only two steps and he's using a walker.

Yeah I dont want to be a dick or anything but I was really expecting more than that

 

[JTsyo]

There's definitely more deserving people out there.

Actually from what I saw he volunteered to work with the guys at the lab to get it working. He put effort into it and deserves to use it for graduation. While what he did was dumb I don't think punishment should be that he's confined to the wheelchair for the rest of his life.

 

[ViviTheMage]

saw this on the news, and got a lump in my throat over it.
awesome. with all the bs we are bombarded with on the news daily it's stories like that one that need to be found and reported on much more.

Would it be as effective if all we saw in the news was 95% feel good stories?

 

[airdata]

No and no.

Do you ever switch lanes without signaling prior to the change in lanes?

 

[blinblue]

Yeah I dont want to be a dick or anything but I was really expecting more than that

I imagine there is more advance technology out there, but the big thing was how cheap (relatively speaking anyway) this is. No mobility to some limited mobility at $15,000 is still better than no mobility because the high-mobility devices are $500,000.

And while I hate drunk drivers as much as the next guy (wife's mom was killed by a drunk driver), I think he's probably done more to prevent future drunk driving (via his talks and whatnot) than most of us. So while I don't cut him one inch of slack for his previous drunk driving, I'm not going to tell him he can't walk because of the reason why his paralyzed.

And yes, I'm sure there are more "deserving" people. But that's always the case, and the point is to bring this type of technology to the masses so that everyone who needs it can have it.

 

[destrekor]

The DoD/DARPA already has a lot of legwork in this field, and is actively pursuing further advancements in the mechanically-assisted arena, and in general the entire robotic arena.

Robotic mules to carry a large amount of weight, smaller ones that can be used for more purposes that would otherwise add great risk to a human, and exoskeletons that can enable a Soldier to do far more in terms of raw strength thanks to the assistance from motorized and resistive equipment.

This arena could have a HUGE impact on military operations in the future, as these things, while costlier than humans, are also quite a bit more sturdy and can survive what we otherwise cannot. That, and preserving human lives has a tremendous impact on morale and well, end-strength... plus, it does indeed help keep expenses and losses far lower.

You just aren't seeing a lot of the progress being made in the field under the watch of DARPA. There are a lot of things most of us don't know about in terms of technological advancement for military purposes, and it should be said for every project we get to physically see progress in, there are other projects that are advancing just as nicely that we don't get to know about yet.

 

[manimal]

No and no.

have you ever had an overinflated sense of self?

 

[manimal]

Do you ever switch lanes without signaling prior to the change in lanes?

good one!

 

[Whisper]

good one!

Or made a turn without signaling. Or sped. Or tailgated. Or driven while tired, angry, or distracted. We all, inadvertently or not, risk the lives of those around us all the time. It's a risk we take by getting out of bed and going outside every day--that at any given moment, someone might be doing something that could kill us. When I sit back and look at the vast array of stupid things I've done just in my own life, I'm amazed I've made it this far without dying.

This kid obviously learned from his mistake (which, while it COULD have hurt someone other than himself, did not). Kudos to him.