I heard an amazing story on NPR today. Please see the excerpt below. While Skynet will one day destroy humanity, it’s refreshing to see that not all technology is out to kill Sarah Connor.
Full story: NPR’s Weekend America: Monty’s Lifesuit: From Science Fiction to Fact
This weekend, San Francisco hosts the 2008 RoboGames. Last year’s event attracted more than 3,000 spectators — they came to see robots and their human inventors compete in races, weightlifting and all-out robo-smackdowns.But one returning champion from Seattle has a bigger mission in mind. Reporter Jeremy Richards has the story:
Like any good superhero story, Monty Reed’s journey starts with a single terrifying event. In 1983, fresh out of high school, Monty joined the Army, eventually securing a place with the elite Airborne Rangers. He had 38 successful jumps. But something went wrong on his 39th jump.
“We were doing a night jump,” Reed says. “It was battalion-wide, so it was hundreds of parachutes in the air, and somebody’s parachute came too close to me, and that stole the air. So my canopy collapsed, and I hit the ground.”
On impact, Monty broke his back in several places. He spent a year recovering at a hospital in Ford Ord, Calif.
“While I was in the hospital, paralyzed legs, fingers on both hands paralyzed, the doctors told me your condition is permanent and it will get worse. So get used to it.”
Monty didn’t accept this. He took out a pad of paper and wrote across the top: “Monty Shall Walk.” To distract himself from the pain, he found solace in science-fiction novels. That’s when inspiration hit:
Watch the results of his inspiration. More info. available at They Shall Walk.
Tags: American Public Media, defense, Disabilities, Disability, Elderly, exoskeleton, Gadgets, Innovative, Jeremy Richards, life suit, lifesuit, medical supplies, Medicine, Monty Reed, National Public Radio, NPR, Paralyzed, Parapalegic, physical therapy, Robo Games, Robogames, Robot, Robotic, Soldiers, Technology, They Shall Walk, weapons, Wheelchair
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