On April 26, 2012, 16 year old Joanne O’Riordan gave a speech to the United Nations for Girls in ICT Day. Although Joanne was born with one of rarest conditions we know of, Total Amelia, her motto in life is no limbs, no limits.

Even as a young child, technology’s played a crucial role in Joanne’s life. In both her home and school environment, Joanne has always been eager to use technology creatively so that it can help her achieve whatever it is she wants to do. “Technology has made me even more determined to achieve a better standard and quality of life. I always think, if I can do this now, what would I achieve in the future?”

In her address to the UN Joanne dares the women in ICT to do what she’s been doing her whole life—thinking outside the box. She challenges them to find knew ways to make technology more accessible to people who really need. She puts a more specific challenge out there too: “Build me a robot”— a robot to allow Joanne to do some of the things her body can’t.

This young woman’s determination and resilience can’t be created by any sort of futuristic gadget, nevertheless, Joanne maintains that for her, technology is truly a way of living. Why not take Joanne’s challenge and think outside the box— what are some new ways technology could help you?

For more on this, read Joanne’s full speech HERE

For anyone who’s a Charlie Chaplin fan, this scene from the 1936 film Modern Times is a must watch! When Chaplin’s forced to give it a go as this feeding machine’s first customer he’s treated to a lovely meal…all over his shirt as well as numerous ensuing side dishes of slaps to the face!

Thankfully, even those in the film deem the machine as being ¨impractical¨ but poor Chaplin suffers a mental breakdown as a result of this and other embarrassing scenarios with abusive machines. Could some sort of feeding assistant like this ever be practical? The creators of Bestic think so!

Bestic is a robotic feeding assistant developed by Sten Hemmingsson. Affected by Polio in his early teens, it became difficult for Hemmingsson to continue feeding himself independently and being fed by another person was something that affected his self esteem in a very negative way. Since he wasn’t able to find anything on the market that suited his needs, he began looking into other options. In 2004 Hemmingsson began collaborating with engineer Ann-Louise Norén to produce the first prototype of the Bestic feeding assistant in 2005. After four prototypes and a successful evaluation carried out by the Swedish Institute of Computer Science, Bestic is now on the market!

You can see the Bestic in action in the video below or check out their website for further information.

What other ways could robots help us lead more independent lives? Check out the European Flagship initiative: Robot Companions for Citizens for some ideas.