Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Your weekly dose of information that keeps you up to date on the latest developments in the field of technology designed to assist people with disabilities and special needs.
Special coverage from RESNA 2014 in Indianapolis
——————————
Listen 24/7 at www.AssistiveTechnologyRadio.com
If you have an AT question, leave us a voice mail at: 317-721-7124 or email tech@eastersealscrossroads.org
Check out our web site: https://www.eastersealstech.com
Follow us on Twitter: @INDATAproject
Like us on Facebook: www.Facebook.com/INDATA
>> Hi, this is Alisa Brownlee, and I am the conference chair for the 2014 RESNA conference, and this is your assistive technology update.
WADE WINGLER: Hi, this is Wade Wingler with the INDATA Project at Easter Seals Crossroads in Indiana with your Assistive Technology Update, a weekly dose of information that keeps you up-to-date on the latest developments in the field of technology, designed to assist people with disabilities and special needs. Welcome to episode number 161 of assistive technology update. It’s scheduled to be released on June 27 of 2014.
This is a special episode because, frankly, I am out of the office and out of the studio. I’m doing a summer camp this week. It’s one of my favorite weeks of the year, and I’m going to be spending the entire week on the campus of Butler University with a bunch of my colleagues, a bunch of volunteers, and some very special kids are using augmentative communication devices. Fun camp for kids who are aug-com users.
However, because I’m gone this week, I have a special episode this week that is a follow-up to the RESNA conference that happened a little bit earlier in the month of June. RESNA has an annual conference where thought leaders in the field of assistive technology gathered from around North America and around the world and talk about what’s happening in the field of assistive technology. There’s an exhibit hall, there are a keynote speakers, there are all kinds of sessions that are happening throughout the conference.
While I was there, I grabbed the microphone and had an opportunity to interview some of the people, some of the keynote speakers and others, who were there kind of giving us some feedback on what was happening at the RESNA conference. In this episode — and I’m not going to interrupt it whole lot — I just got several clips from some of the keynote speakers and some of the attendees of the conference.
We hope that if you were at RESNA it will bring back in memory. If you weren’t at RESNA, it might make you want to go sometime in the future. Next summer is going to be in Denver, Colorado, but this is covered from RESNA 2014 in Indianapolis. Without further delay, here are some clips.
WADE WINGLER: So the background noise your hearing is the conference exhibit hall at the RESNA Indianapolis conference 2014. We are you’re going to talk with some folks today about their experiences at RESNA. We’re glad to bring you this episode that kind of gives you the wrap up, they recap of some of things that happened. I just sat in a session and listen to Sam Schmidt talk about his race car. I’m going to go downstairs in front of the hotel here in a few minutes and see Sam’s racecar. I’m excited about that as well. I hope to wander around here and talk to some folks who are going to tell us about their experiences at the conference.
Once again, we are in the exhibit hall here at the RESNA 2014 conference. I bumped into my friend, Joey Wallace. Joey, how are you?
JOEY WALLACE: I’m great, Wade, how are you?
WADE WINGLER: I’m doing great. Thank you for bringing RESNA to Indianapolis this year. We are so excited to have you. How has the city bench you so far?
JOEY WALLACE: It’s a wonderful town and Israel different than being here a couple of years ago. It’s grown. We have a beautiful downtown area that everybody is enjoying. I think tonight we might get to a baseball game.
WADE WINGLER: That’s the plan. The weather is supposed to be good. I think it’s going to be exciting to see little minor league ball tonight.
JOEY WALLACE: That’s right. I’m from Richmond and we have some minor league ball, but you’ve got a ballpark that looks very attractive. I came to go.
WADE WINGLER: We are excited about that. How is the conference? What’s going on here? What’s got you excited about the exhibit hall and what’s happening at the conference this year?
JOEY WALLACE: Primarily, we have just had an amazing kickoff. We have had an Indy racecar driver who talk to us about his modified vehicle that has allowed him to be able to drive independently. It was a very moving speech and one that I think set the tone for the conference. We are now in the exhibit hall which is full of great people and devices and ideas. We’ve got a lunch coming up where it will be packed and we’re all going to learn a lot.
WADE WINGLER: Joey, thank you so much for being on the show. Things again for coming to Indy with RESNA.
JOEY WALLACE: Anytime, Wade, thanks.
WADE WINGLER: Unfortunately a little bit of audio difficulties prevent me from having a clip from Sam’s keynote at RESNA. However, not all is lost because I did have a chance to interview Sam prior to his keynote speech on our show just a few weeks ago. Here’s a quick clip from the interview.
Sam, I also know that you are going to be speaking at the RESNA conference that comes up in Indianapolis in June. Do you want to talk about that just a bit? I know you’re going to be keynoting for us.
SAM SCHMIDT: We’re working with Mike Murphy and the folks that are involved with RESNA. We’ll have a video of the Sam Project, bring the car on stage. I think it’s June 12 and 13th. Just a couple of weeks after the Indy 500. Hopefully we’ll be able to grab an Indy 500 trophy out with us as well. Very excited about that because the people in the audience here are heavy influencers whether it’s an assistive technology angle or people that interact with those with disabilities on a daily basis. Frankly, they have a strong influence on whether or not these people develop the attitude to get back out and get jobs and be active members of society which I think is absolutely critical to somebody with a disability living a long life. You have to have a reason to get out there every morning and assistive technology devices make that happen.
WADE WINGLER: So I’m walking around the exhibit hall here at RESNA and I just bumped it’s my good friend and colleague, Dr. Mike Bogen. Mike, how are you?
MIKE BOGEN: Fine, Wade, how are you?
WADE WINGLER: I’m doing great. What brings you to RESNA?
MIKE BOGEN: Just wanted to kind of check out the exhibit hall, see what the different displays show and look at some of the AT equipment for sale.
WADE WINGLER: Cool. Have you seen anything that struck your fancy you thought was particularly cool?
MIKE BOGEN: Well, I’ve only been here for about 10 minutes and only stop at a couple of places so far, but so far it looks like they have a lot of different seating and wheelchair vendors that I’ve not heard of before. I’m kind of looking for to checking out some things and seeing what’s available.
WADE WINGLER: Excellent. One of the chairs are you might pay attention to is one called a Whill. It’s just on the way here. It’s pretty cool. Is a new prototype with some interesting turning stuff and really lightweight, real stylish looking chair. You have to check it out.
MIKE BOGEN: I’ll be sure to do that. Thanks.
WADE WINGLER: Cool, Mike, thanks for stopping by.
MIKE BOGEN: My pleasure. See you.
WADE WINGLER: so we’re here in the exhibit hall and Carmen DiGiovine – did I get it right?
CARMEN DIGIOVINE: close enough.
WADE WINGLER: I’m sorry. So what brings you to RESNA?
CARMEN DIGIOVINE: I always come to RESNA because it’s a great conference. It really focuses on rehab engineering. You just don’t see that in any other conferences.
WADE WINGLER: You’ve been a guest on the show before.
CARMEN DIGIOVINE: I have. Before I was talking about certification, and we cannot grow and it’s been wonderful. Now I’m moving on to other things.
WADE WINGLER: Excellent. Thanks for stopping by and Shanghai.
CARMEN DIGIOVINE: I appreciate everything you do.
WADE WINGLER: So tell me your name.
KATHLEEN MCCORMICK: Kathleen McCormick.
WADE WINGLER: Kathleen, I’m so glad they stop by our booth. Where are you from?
KATHLEEN MCCORMICK: I am from Mount Pleasant, South Carolina.
WADE WINGLER: So you’re here in Indianapolis at RESNA. Is this your first RESNA?
KATHLEEN MCCORMICK: yes, it is.
WADE WINGLER: And what have you seen so far. You said you just got here.
KATHLEEN MCCORMICK: I have seen some awesome innovations, particularly in wheelchair technology and interior technology so that people who are wheelchair-bound or somewhat impaired can manipulate their environments to the advantage. I’m very proactive about AT in place particularly in South Carolina and the low country. This information will very much help me for the low country senior network in South Carolina aging employees.
WADE WINGLER: Excellent. Thank you so much for stopping by.
KATHLEEN MCCORMICK: Thank you so much, Mr. Wade, I really appreciate it.
WADE WINGLER: So we’re here in the exhibit hall and my good friend, Nikki, walked by. Nikki, what brings you over here to RESNA?
>> I’m here with my colleagues. We are checking out assistive technology to see how we can help our job seekers be successful in the jobs. I work at Goodwill.
WADE WINGLER: And have you done anything cool?
>> Yes. Lots of stuff.
WADE WINGLER: Give me an example. Tell me something.
>> Anything from technology that describes things — boy, I’m very technical. Describes things and puts it on summer like a YouTube channel so that you can go online and have descriptions for the classroom which is fabulous. I just saw some embossed technology with a have the pan that reads when you’re highlighted which is awesome. A really cool CCTV for people who have low vision.
WADE WINGLER: Excellent. I know that you’re nervous about this. I’m not just around the exhibit hall anymore. Thank you so much for stopping by and talking to us.
>> You’re welcome. It’s good to see here.
WADE WINGLER: Coming up here we have an excerpt from Dr. Gregor Wolbring who talks about human augmentation and transmission and what happens when assistive technology goes too far and helps people with disabilities I perform their “able-bodied” counterparts. Fascinating, very high-end conversation. Here’s a quick excerpt from that.
GREGOR WOLBRING: This is another one. This is the people from Gizmodo. This happened yesterday or the day before when the FIFA World Cup championship started where, in essence, you have a person in a wheelchair and a short control exoskeleton and they did the kickoff.
But the image is ultimately demonizing the wheelchair because it’s a cool thing to get out of the wheelchair. We see this a lot. We make a stigma of assistive devices. It’s showing a negative image of a wheelchair in order to push people to really by the bionics, instead of accepting that every assistive device is good. You have to use a car. It’s an assistive device. If I were to demonize your car because, well, it’s bad and so on. You wouldn’t want that either. That’s stigmatizing. We have in our competition between devices, you use a negative image of one device to sell your other device. It’s a fairly new development because we are moving in an area where you really can demonize a certain device against another. This will be the future. Let’s just give you an exoskeleton. We simply modify the genome so your legs come out automatically how they should be. [Laughter]
WADE WINGLER: So tell me your name.
>> My name is Rich.
WADE WINGLER: What brings you to RESNA?
>> Innovative products.
WADE WINGLER: Are you selling them, buying them, or investigating them?
>> Investigating.
WADE WINGLER: What do you find that’s cool?
>> Just a lot of new technology. Fantastic, innovative products that are really empowering users.
WADE WINGLER: Where you from?
>> Great Falls, Montana.
WADE WINGLER: And you came in for RESNA. Is this your first time getting up as?
>> This is my first time. Great city.
WADE WINGLER: Are you enjoying it?
>> Absolutely. Lot of fun.
WADE WINGLER: Are we going to see you at the ballgame tonight?
>> Yes, you will.
WADE WINGLER: Excellent. They for stopping by.
>> You’re very welcome. Thanks.
WADE WINGLER: So we’re here live in the exhibit hall at RESNA. Tell me your name, Sir.
>> Travis Phelps.
WADE WINGLER: And you came in from where?
>> Plainfield, Indiana.
WADE WINGLER: Just down the street.
>> Almost walking distance.
WADE WINGLER: So what brings you to RESNA?
>> I’m here with a good friend, Danny. Just exploring the different technologies available.
WADE WINGLER: Have you seen anything cool?
>> Lots of really neat things. I’ve been impressed with the different wheelchair options, real stylish things, everything from really stylish to comfortable posture-pedic stuff. It’s interesting.
WADE WINGLER: Excellent. Thanks so much for stopping by.
>> No problem. Thanks.
WADE WINGLER: So once again I am here in the RESNA exhibit hall. I just met a gentleman named Sugi. How are you today?
>> How are you?
WADE WINGLER: You’re doing okay?
>> Doing very well.
WADE WINGLER: So you have something that looks very fascinating. It’s called Whill, and it is a very futuristic, stylized, cool looking power wheelchair. Tell me about this.
>> This is the next generation of personal mobility device. Our mission is to change the negative perception of the personal mobility device through design and technology. The design style is totally different from any other devices. In the front wheel that can turn in a really tight radius. Also this is four-wheel-drive. They can drive on snow, pebble.
WADE WINGLER: Amazing. So four-wheel-drive, incredibly tight turning radius, and it looks like it’s cool. It looks like a very space age, very stylized, cool looking device. I will try to pop a photograph of it in the show notes so that listeners can check the website and see how cool this thing is. Is it available for a test drive?
>> Of course, sure.
WADE WINGLER: I can take it for a ride?
>> Yes.
WADE WINGLER: Do I need training or do I just use the joystick and go.
>> It’s pretty intuitive so you can easily maneuver.
WADE WINGLER: I’m going to take it for a ride.
So on my right hand, I have a regular joystick. It’s very intuitive. On the left-hand side are the speech controls so I can set the bottle from low, medium, hi, whatever I would like to do. Backing up, moving around, very tight turning radius. Almost zero extra clearance required. I’m going to turn in a circle here. It goes almost in its own space. It’s quick to. Very responsive. Very cool. The seat sits on a motorized platform that moves forward and backwards so that you can get the chair closer to a table or easier for transfers. Very intuitive controls for that.
Sugi, if people wanted to learn more about this chair, do you have a website or contact information you’d like to provide?
>> Of course. We had a website, whill.jp. Now we are doing a kickstarter.
WADE WINGLER: So they’re going to find this on kickstarter under Whill?
>> That’s right.
WADE WINGLER: Thank you so much for showing me your chair and being on the show.
>> Thank you very much.
WADE WINGLER: Very cool kind of chair. Awesome.
Ladies, how are you? Where are you from?
>> I’m great. I’m Latasha Hartman from Cincinnati, Ohio.
WADE WINGLER: Cincinnati. So not a terribly long drive over here.
>> No. Two hours. Not bad.
WADE WINGLER: What brings you to RESNA?
>> Always learning, finding new things, seeing what’s happening in the field.
WADE WINGLER: And have you seen anything cool yet?
>> The race car this morning. The driver. It was pretty awesome that he was able to do that again.
WADE WINGLER: And did you get to go down and see the car parked outside?
>> I haven’t yet but I’m hoping I can squeak down there before it’s gone.
WADE WINGLER: Excellent. Thanks for stopping by.
>> Thank you.
WADE WINGLER: There is Alisa Brownlee. How are you?
ALISA BROWNLEE: Hi, I’m well, how are you?
WADE WINGLER: Good. So how’s the conference going so far?
ALISA BROWNLEE: I’m having a wonderful time. I see that everyone else seems to be too. The exhibit hall is nice and busy. That’s what we like to see.
WADE WINGLER: We finally got you in Indianapolis. How are you enjoying being here?
ALISA BROWNLEE: I haven’t let the hotel yet. My goal is to leave tonight and go to the baseball game. I’m very excited. This is the first conference where I’ve ever not let the hotel.
WADE WINGLER: It’s because you’ve been very busy, right?
ALISA BROWNLEE: Yes, that is correct. I have been busy. I’m teaching a class and doing other things.
WADE WINGLER: Thanks for stopping and saying hi.
ALISA BROWNLEE: You’re welcome, and I’m tweeting lots of pictures, so if you’re on Twitter, follow me @alsassistivetec.
WADE WINGLER: And here is my good friend, Danny Wayne, who’s been on the show a number of times. Danny, we didn’t get the doors locked before you got in. What happened?
DANNY WAYNE: Well, you know what, I came in the back door. When you look at an exhibit hall like this, there’s so much different species of technology for individuals. Mobility, accessibility, tools for individuals. This has to be pretty exciting. Listening to some individuals that are like, “I’ve never seen something like this in Indianapolis before.” The researchers are here. What a great opportunity this is been for individuals to experience this. You can read a catalog, but when you can touch something firsthand, it’s absolutely wonderful.
WADE WINGLER: And you can ask questions of the people who produce and invent this technology. You can talk to some of the brightest minds in the world really who are kind of on the cutting edge of the stuff. It really is an amazing opportunity.
DANNY WAYNE: I have to say, one of the best interviews that I’ve heard so far on your podcast — and I’m sorry I missed Sam Schmidt’s presentation — I’ve been a follower of open wheel racing and Indianapolis 500 for a long time. To hear Sam Schmidt with the technology and the crate that he has, you put those together and you put that guy on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway track, he’ll think about that for the rest of his life. That makes an impact for some young person who maybe has had some misfortunes in their life but they have a quest to continue on.
WADE WINGLER: I think not only is it an inspiring message but he also talks about the practical application. They set in the keynote that they want to see the technology available, commercially available and on the road within the next five years so that people with other kinds of disabilities can be driving. They talk about the Google driverless cars and those kinds of things. I think the Indianapolis 500 was about testing technology for the mainstream. They’re really trying to push this out.
DANNY WAYNE: you know, when they put it to the extreme — because I’m sure he went over 100 miles an hour, which you and I on the streets — although I think your daughter, if she doesn’t have her last yet, she will soon, so we’ll see if there’s a 100 miles an hour driver. Little brother and sister, hold on, we are going fast. Those are great interviews. The other thing is leading up to the show, it was very exciting to get a little perspective of what RESNA is. In the Midwest, we didn’t know a lot about it before he started experiencing the podcast that you presented.
WADE WINGLER: Thank you for listening. Thank you for being here and thanks for a kind words.
DANNY WAYNE: Have a great conference.
WADE WINGLER: And here we have an excerpt from Dr. Cole Galloway’s keynote speech where he talks about some innovative stuff he’s doing with kids under three and assistive technology. Great conversation with lots of interesting points to be made.
COLE GALLOWAY: We are all family here so let’s come clean. You like building stuff. You’ve always liked building stuff. You’ll build stuff even when you don’t need it. You’ll build a watch in a blender. I say that all the time is just a little smoothie. Engineers counter with, yeah, that’s not even funny. Because that would be awesome. Engineers hear me say that and go, why do you make fun of that, because that’s really cool. Do you understand how difficult it would be to get a microcontroller to do a blender? I’m like, shut up. It’s a joke.
Engineers, you’ve got to give me something I can use early, with every behavior, everywhere, with everybody, for everybody, all the time. That’s hard. So very quickly people go from one thing that human mobility as a human right to being terrified. This is a very high bar. This is like levitating cars. Star Wars stuff. This is really hard. They always say where do you expect it to function? Everywhere. And when do you need this? Well, now. Oh, man. This is a high bar. We can’t give up. That’s the thing. Don’t give up to the high bar.
How about some developing and inspiring AT. It’s got to be adaptive. It’s just different ways of looking at the same thing. It’s got to be adaptive and dynamic. It’s got to be flexible. None of these are rocket science. That means the spectrum should be available. It should help you with your impairments, while you’re doing activity, while you’re nestled in the physical and social environment, participating. That’s a high bar. That’s high. Is a durable? It’s got to be. It’s got to have a cost ratio that’s really good. That’s ethics.
Here’s some things to sort of transition into technologies. All of these technologies are available. They may be merging. Like this functional fashion stuff is hot. This is something that I hope to come back to Denver with and maybe do a workshop. Maybe talk about functional fashion. You’ve heard about smart garments. This is the same thing, but we call it functional fashion. They are not supposed to be smart. This is one of our design principles. The smartest thing in the room using our technology has to be the kid. Why? Because even after significant brain damage, they have likely — we don’t know this — they have likely the biggest processor on the planet. Make it smart, they’ll accommodate. Make it a challenge dislike we learn from our therapy friends. Make it adaptive so that it can become obsolete.
This came out of a funded project with a Wilmington robotic exoskeleton. [Inaudible] he caused a robot. It’s got rubber bands. If he racked but don’t be looking for robotics that have senses and motor then controller. It’s a rubber band. It’s printed on a 3-D printer. It’s very light. It’s just too much of a hassle, not a big castle, but it’s just too much of a hassle for moms to really use. So we got frustrated halfway through the grant, and we said let’s put the exoskeleton underneath a onesie. We had the same design studio team go do that. You know what fits under that onesie? We looked at pneumatics, we looked at everything. We had a cost that we had to stand there. That’s devastating for engineers. They came up with four piano wires rub together. So four piano wires done together, put through a sleeve, gave Matthew who can’t move his shoulders but can move his hands the ability to have the trampoline effect that encouraged him to move. Was it perfect? No. But the price of perfection is five years. For the industry, that’s okay. If you have engineers, that’s okay. But for therapists, you can’t ask them to do that. You can’t ask them to go back to the clinic tomorrow and say, it’s a bad time to have an [Inaudible]. You come back in about 10 years will have it all worked out. We’re going to Denver next year. That shows you our focus. We are on this. Come back in 10 years, we’ve got you. That’s laughable, but that’s the logic of a researcher like me who’s coming and saying he is a robot that’s mobile. Oh, you can’t have it. That’s what got us to driving cars.
WADE WINGLER: Andrea Van Hook, possibly and most likely the hardest working woman at the RESNA conference. Andrea, how are you?
>> Good. Thank you, Wade. How are you?
WADE WINGLER: I’m doing great. We are having so much fun being here at the conference. We are so glad that you guys are in Indianapolis. How is it going so far from the perspective?
>> It is going fantastic. A lot of that is due to you, Wade, and the great work INDATA has done to help us promote the conference. We had a great day. We had Sam Schmidt here, form Indy racecar driver. We have a semi-autonomous car here right now on display. The exhibit hall is packed. We’ve got members of the public here from the city who are visiting with all of our exhibitors. Poster sessions going on. We are going to a baseball game tonight. How much better could be?
WADE WINGLER: And the weather is going to be beautiful and my kids are coming, so that either going to be really good or really bad for me, depending on how that works out.
>> I’m sure it will be great. I’m looking for to meeting them.
WADE WINGLER: I think it’s going to be great. I’m looking forward for you to get to meet them as well. We are not even finished with the conference yet. We’re just getting started, right?
>> We are just getting started. This is just the first days we’ve got two more days to go. Tomorrow we have Gregor Wolbring with us, a researcher and bioethicist who is going to be talking to us about how fast technology is evolving and what does that mean for ethicists, about people who are not disabled getting assistive technology, in essence, to be better than human. We have a full slate of workshop sessions tomorrow as well. The student design competition and the student scientific paper competition are wrapping up tomorrow. Our awards luncheon. And then we are screening the movie Fixed, the science fiction of human enhancement, tomorrow night. Sunday and we’ve got a half-day of great programming with Dr. Cole Galloway in the morning and his go baby go product with pediatric mobility which I’m really looking for to.
WADE WINGLER: I have unique perspective of having talked to a lot of these plenary keynote speakers in advance, but now going to meet them and visit with them a little bit more and in person. I’m looking for to that.
>> It is wonderful. You read so much about these people and you see their website and you’ve heard them talk and other places, but to actually have them here at RESNA and be so approachable and hanging out with all the rest of folks and sharing the knowledge. It’s just really wonderful.
WADE WINGLER: We’re having fun. We’ll keep having fun. Andrea, thanks again.
>> Thank you very much, Wade.
WADE WINGLER: We hope you enjoyed our coverage of RESNA 2014 in Indianapolis. Will be back next week with our regular format and an interview with Braun Ability. See you next week.
WADE WINGLER: Do you have a question about assistive technology? Do you have a suggestion for someone we should interview on Assistive Technology Update? Call our listener line at 317-721-7124. Looking for show notes from today’s show? Head on over to EasterSealstech.com. Shoot us a note on Twitter @INDATAProject, or check us out on Facebook. That was your Assistance Technology Update. I’m Wade Wingler with the INDATA Project at Easter Seals Crossroads in Indiana.——-transcript follows ——