He was paralyzed in an accident on the race track 20 years ago. Now he's racing again, thanks to a technology he developed with Arrow Electronics.
This is Sam Schmidt's story ...
#FiveYearsOut #SamSchmidt
This is Sam Schmidt's story ...
#FiveYearsOut #SamSchmidt
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TechTranscript
00:00I've got cameras facing at me and I turn my head left, it goes left, turn my head to the right, it goes to the right off of my helmet movement.
00:07I feel the same thing driving now that I did then, I just can't feel it from the shoulders down.
00:21Driven by Sam Schmidt, a car driver paralysed in a racing accident.
00:26He's actually controlling this car purely with his head.
00:29I take my hat off to Sam Schmidt.
00:31He called me and said, would you like to drive again?
00:55I said, hell yeah. It's going to take a lot of effort and a lot of time. I don't want to do it if we're going to go slow.
01:07At the very beginning, the gas and brake was very rudimentary.
01:12The infrared cameras could not have any other light shining in the car.
01:17So, complete, 100% blacked out, windshield, side windows, everything.
01:22And I said, you know, if I'm going to drive down the Las Vegas Strip, I'm not going to have the top on this thing.
01:27To where they've now changed the cameras to where we can tap the top off and have some fun and go fast.
01:33There's not much in my life, if anything, that I'm actually in fully control of.
01:37So, to be in control of the car, steering it, gas, brake, I mean, it's freedom and it goes wicked fast too.
01:45So, I'm sitting in the SAM car. SAM stands for semi-autonomous mobility.
01:51We have a camera system that tracks head movement. Whichever way you turn your head steers the car.
01:57And then we have a tube with a pressure sensor for gas and brake. So, blow to go, sip to stop.
02:05There's a lot of different ways to adapt this to different types of people with different types of abilities.
02:11Forklifts, combines, mail trucks, where you can get people back to work and give them a little bit more sense of normalcy in their everyday lives.
02:21Now we're evolving the equipment to AI camera. Which means I won't even have to wear a hat or sunglasses or a helmet at all.
02:29So, it's just going to be facial recognition. It's the first time that's been used in that capacity to steer the car.
02:42It's a lot of fun. SAM's got incredible control over this car.
02:46And he's still a racing driver. He keeps wanting to push harder and harder and harder.
02:49Who knows where this thing can go. It's mind-blowing that they've got to here already.
03:02There's a ton of applications. Everything from Parkinson's to MS to ALS and PLS.
03:08I mean, these are all devastating, life-changing disorders.
03:13But I'm really hoping this technology can help them, again, find their purpose in life.
03:19Like growing up and being a professional race car driver, you have to be really selfish in life.
03:24It's all about me. It's all about winning.
03:26But now that I'm in this position, I think I'm getting more satisfaction out of the fact that we can help others achieve their goals.