Hugh Herr moving mountains to end disability
- 8 years ago
At the age of eight Hugh Herr was already and gifted mountaineer, by 17 he was considered one of the best mountain climbers in the United States.
Then calamity struck, while climbing a treacherous ice route on Mount Washington he and another climber became blinded and disorientated during a blizzard.
They spent three nights in minus 29 degree temperatures.
Upon rescue it was found both men has suffered severe frostbite.
As a result Hugh Herr underwent a bi-lateral below knee amputation.
He was dismayed when he was handed his first prosthesis.
From then on Hugh Herr, a man used to scaling the heights, began his modest mission to end disability.
Euronews reporter Chris Cummins met up with Hugh Herr in Oviedo as he collected his Princess of Asturias Award for Technical and Scientific Research.
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Hugh Herr, Biometrics group director, MIT Media Lab:“What happened was. I was fitted with conventional technology. This was in 1982. I was just horrified. I said to myself: ‘how can this be it!’ They were made of wood and rubber. No computational intelligence. No sensors. No computers. No muscle-like actuation. I said to myself: ‘You have to be kidding me. There has to be more.’ Then I was inspired to begin designing.
My first task was to design my own limbs to enable me to return to my chosen sport, mountain climbing.”
Chris Cummins :“But had you a background in this kind of stuff?”
Hugh Herr:“In high school, to get out of academics, I pursued vocational school. So I knew how to make things out of wood and metal. So I went into the shop and started cutting and grinding. And it was very succesful. I quickly returned to climbing. And I quickly was at a level that exceeded my previous climbing abilities prior to my accident. So I was actually climbing better with artificial limbs that I ever achieved with biological limbs. So at that point I began to imagine a future world without disability. Imagine this narrative that occured with me and my body, imagine extending that across all of Humanity, and having advanced technology for the treatment of the blind, severely depressed individuals, the people who are paralysed, across all disabilities, to end disability.”
Chris Cummins:“So looking at your bionic limbs, if I may use the Steve Austin analogy?”
Hugh Herr:“Yes absolutely. Bionics is a good word.”
Chris Cummins:“How did we get there and explain to us how they work?”
Hugh Herr: “What I’m wearing are bionic limbs. They are fantastic. Each limb has three computers. Not big computers. They are small chips. Three computers. Twelve sensors that measure positions,speed, acceleration, temperatures, forces. And then decisions are made by the algorithms to control a muscle-like actuator. So they actually move and power every step that I take. They are electrically powered; so here is the battery that is charged in the evening. They are wonder
Then calamity struck, while climbing a treacherous ice route on Mount Washington he and another climber became blinded and disorientated during a blizzard.
They spent three nights in minus 29 degree temperatures.
Upon rescue it was found both men has suffered severe frostbite.
As a result Hugh Herr underwent a bi-lateral below knee amputation.
He was dismayed when he was handed his first prosthesis.
From then on Hugh Herr, a man used to scaling the heights, began his modest mission to end disability.
Euronews reporter Chris Cummins met up with Hugh Herr in Oviedo as he collected his Princess of Asturias Award for Technical and Scientific Research.
http://static.euronews.com/articles/34/76/347696/640×427_bonus-2510-Hugh-Herr-Oviedo4.jpg
Hugh Herr, Biometrics group director, MIT Media Lab:“What happened was. I was fitted with conventional technology. This was in 1982. I was just horrified. I said to myself: ‘how can this be it!’ They were made of wood and rubber. No computational intelligence. No sensors. No computers. No muscle-like actuation. I said to myself: ‘You have to be kidding me. There has to be more.’ Then I was inspired to begin designing.
My first task was to design my own limbs to enable me to return to my chosen sport, mountain climbing.”
Chris Cummins :“But had you a background in this kind of stuff?”
Hugh Herr:“In high school, to get out of academics, I pursued vocational school. So I knew how to make things out of wood and metal. So I went into the shop and started cutting and grinding. And it was very succesful. I quickly returned to climbing. And I quickly was at a level that exceeded my previous climbing abilities prior to my accident. So I was actually climbing better with artificial limbs that I ever achieved with biological limbs. So at that point I began to imagine a future world without disability. Imagine this narrative that occured with me and my body, imagine extending that across all of Humanity, and having advanced technology for the treatment of the blind, severely depressed individuals, the people who are paralysed, across all disabilities, to end disability.”
Chris Cummins:“So looking at your bionic limbs, if I may use the Steve Austin analogy?”
Hugh Herr:“Yes absolutely. Bionics is a good word.”
Chris Cummins:“How did we get there and explain to us how they work?”
Hugh Herr: “What I’m wearing are bionic limbs. They are fantastic. Each limb has three computers. Not big computers. They are small chips. Three computers. Twelve sensors that measure positions,speed, acceleration, temperatures, forces. And then decisions are made by the algorithms to control a muscle-like actuator. So they actually move and power every step that I take. They are electrically powered; so here is the battery that is charged in the evening. They are wonder