Health and Medicine -- Innovating Lives
Arrow Electronics' developed an innovative semi-autonomous motorcar (SAM) to bring new hope to the disabled.
Indy Car driver Sam Schmidt was paralyzed 16 years ago in a racing accident. Now with Arrow’s help, he can drive using only his head movements – reaching speeds as high as 107 mph on the iconic Indy 500 oval track.
Arrow Electronics modified a 2014 Corvette C7 Stingray with integrated advanced electronics and a human-to-machine interface. Schmidt steers, accelerates and brakes the car through mouth controls and four infrared cameras tracking his head as he turns it left and right. He is accompanied by a trained, able-bodied co-driver with separate, back-up controls.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control estimates that 20 percent of adult Americans are disabled, including 45 percent of the 1.6 million veterans returning from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. One in 50 Americans is paralyzed. And according to a recent survey, disabled people feel twice as likely to miss out on careers, family life and education compared to able-bodied people.
To continue reading about the SAM car project, please visit page 3 of Arrow Electronics' Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainabilty Report for 2015.
