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Sarge Salman: All the way from
Los Altos Hills, California,

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Mr. Henry Evans.

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(Applause)

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Henry Evans: Hello.

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My name is Henry Evans,

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and until August 29, 2002,

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I was living my version of the American dream.

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I grew up in a typical American town near St. Louis.

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My dad was a lawyer.

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My mom was a homemaker.

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My six siblings and I were good kids,

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but caused our fair share of trouble.

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After high school, I left home to study

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and learn more about the world.

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I went to Notre Dame University

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and graduated with degrees
in accounting and German,

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including spending a year of study in Austria.

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Later on, I earned an MBA at Stanford.

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I married my high school sweetheart, Jane.

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I am lucky to have her.

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Together, we raised four wonderful children.

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I worked and studied hard
to move up the career ladder,

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eventually becoming a chief financial officer

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in Silicon Valley, a job I really enjoyed.

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My family and I bought our first and only home

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on December 13, 2001,

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a fixer-upper in a beautiful spot

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of Los Altos Hills, California,

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from where I am speaking to you now.

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We were looking forward to rebuilding it,

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but eight months after we moved in,

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I suffered a stroke-like attack
caused by a birth defect.

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Overnight, I became a mute quadriplegic

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at the ripe old age of 40.

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It took me several years,

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but with the help of an incredibly supportive family,

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I finally decided life was still worth living.

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I became fascinated with using technology

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to help the severely disabled.

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Head tracking devices sold commercially

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by the company Madentec

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convert my tiny head movements
into cursor movements,

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and enable my use of a regular computer.

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I can surf the web, exchange email with people,

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and routinely destroy my friend Steve Cousins

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in online word games.

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This technology allows me to remain engaged,

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mentally active,

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and feel like I am a part of the world.

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One day, I was lying in bed watching CNN,

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when I was amazed by Professor Charlie Kemp

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of the Healthcare Robotics Lab at Georgia Tech

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demonstrating a PR2 robot.

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I emailed Charlie and
Steve Cousins of Willow Garage,

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and we formed the Robots for Humanity project.

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For about two years, Robots for Humanity

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developed ways for me to use the PR2

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as my body surrogate.

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I shaved myself for the first time in 10 years.

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From my home in California,

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I shaved Charlie in Atlanta. (Laughter)

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I handed out Halloween candy.

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I opened my refrigerator on my own.

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I began doing tasks around the house.

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I saw new and previously unthinkable possibilities

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to live and contribute,

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both for myself and others in my circumstance.

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All of us have disabilities in one form or another.

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For example, if either of us
wants to go 60 miles an hour,

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both of us will need an assistive device called a car.

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Your disability doesn't make you
any less of a person,

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and neither does mine.

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By the way, check out my sweet ride. (Laughter)

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Since birth, we have both suffered from the inability

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to fly on our own.

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Last year, Kaijen Hsiao of Willow Garage

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connected with me Chad Jenkins.

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Chad showed me how easy it is

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to purchase and fly aerial drones.

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It was then I realized that I could also use

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an aerial drone to expand the worlds

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of bedridden people through flight,

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giving a sense of movement and control

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that is incredible.

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Using a mouse cursor I control with my head,

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these web interfaces allow me

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to see video from the robot

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and send control commands

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by pressing buttons in a web browser.

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With a little practice, I became
good enough with this interface

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to drive around my home on my own.

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I could look around our garden

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and see the grapes we are growing.

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I inspected the solar panels on our roof. (Laughter)

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One of my challenges as a pilot is to land the drone

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on our basketball hoop.

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I went even further by seeing if I could use

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a head-mounted display, the Oculus Rift,

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as modified by Fighting Walrus,

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to have an immersive experience

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controlling the drone.

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With Chad's group at Brown,

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I regularly fly drones around his lab

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several times a week,
from my home 3,000 miles away.

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All work and no fun makes for a dull quadriplegic,

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so we also find time to play friendly games

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of robot soccer. (Laughter)

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I never thought I would be able to casually

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move around a campus like Brown on my own.

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I just wish I could afford the tuition. (Laughter)

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Chad Jenkins: Henry, all joking aside,

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I bet all of these people here

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would love to see you fly this drone

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from your bed in California 3,000 miles away.

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(Applause)

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Okay, Henry, have you been to D.C. lately?

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(Laughter)

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Are you excited to be at TEDxMidAtlantic?

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(Laughter) (Applause)

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Can you show us how excited you are?

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(Laughter)

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All right, big finish.

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Can you show us how good of a pilot you are?

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(Applause)

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All right, we still have a little ways to go with that,

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but I think it shows the promise.

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What makes Henry's story amazing

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is it's about understanding Henry's needs,

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understanding what people in Henry's situation

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need from technology,

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and then also understanding

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what advanced technology can provide,

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and then bringing those two things together

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for use in a wise and responsible way.

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What we're trying to do is democratize robotics,

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so that anybody can be a part of this.

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We're providing affordable,
off-the-shelf robot platforms

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such as the A.R. drone, 300 dollars,

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the Suitable Technologies beam,
only 17,000 dollars,

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along with open-source robotics software

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so that you can be a part of what we're trying to do.

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And our hope is that, by providing these tools,

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that you'll be able to think of better ways

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to provide movement for the disabled,

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to provide care for our aging population,

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to help better educate our children,

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to think about what the new types

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of middle class jobs could be for the future,

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to both monitor and protect our environment,

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and to explore the universe.

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Back to you, Henry.

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HE: Thank you, Chad.

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With this drone setup, we show the potential

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for bedridden people to once again be able

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to explore the outside world,

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and robotics will eventually provide

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a level playing field

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where one is only limited by their mental acuity

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and imagination,

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where the disabled are able to perform

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the same activities as everyone else,

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and perhaps better,

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and technology will even allow us to provide

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an outlet for many people who are presently

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considered vegetables.

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One hundred years ago,

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I would have been treated like a vegetable.

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Actually, that's not true.

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I would have died.

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It is up to us, all of us, to decide how

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robotics will be used, for good or for evil,

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for simply replacing people

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or for making people better,

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for allowing us to do and enjoy more.

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Our goal for robotics is to
unlock everyone's mental power

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by making the world more physically accessible

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to people such as myself and others like me

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around the globe.

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With the help of people like you,

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we can make this dream a reality.

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Thank you.

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(Applause)