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AN IRISH TEENAGER who was born with a very rare condition which means she has no limbs has challenged the tech community to build her a robot to help pick up items such as phones or pens.
Delivering the keynote speech at a United Nations conference in New York on women in technology, 16-year-old Joanne O’Riordan from Cork spoke of the difference technology had made in her life so far and that “technology is the limb I never had”.
“Technology has opened up a world of possibilities,” she said, “through which I have excelled in both my education and social environment around me”:
I can use my mobile phone, send texts, tweets, update my Facebook, play my PlayStation, Nintendo DS, iPad, iPod, and laptop; without Microsoft, Adobe and Apple in my life I would not be doing and achieving my full potential. In fact I think my life would be quite different to what it is now.Believe it or not I simply use my upper and bottom lip, chin, nose and hand to work most if not all these systems.
O’Riordan said that the technology had developed significantly since she was a young child, and she called on women leaders in technology to do as she does and “think outside the box” in developing ways to make technology more accessible to the people who really need it.
“It’s my wish and challenge to you and to others out there to build me a robot,” she told the conference. “The main thing the robot would be doing is picking up the objects I drop such as a pen, knife, fork, and or my phone.”
She told Morning Ireland today that after the conference there were people who knew others who worked in the field of robotics “so hopefully they’ll all get in contact and maybe we could all work together”.
O’Riordan said she hopes a robot could help her live a more independent life.
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everytime she is on the radio or tv she makes me smile, great personality
She’s in an inspiration, i saw here on the late late, her character was so strong, funny, charismatic that you would completely forget she had a condition like that at all.
It must have been heart breaking for the parents, seeing their new-born baby girl with no limbs. Now look where she is, and what she’s doing.
Gives me a lump in my throat.
Absolute credit to her parents – they must be so proud of her!
What an inspiring girl. Fair played to her.
She is an inspiration to all of us ! Wonderful !
I bet she would have made Steve Jobs smile, nobody could have paid him a bigger complement. What a fantastic kid, the future never looks bleak when we have sources of inspiration like her.
Incredible woman! An inspiration to all of us! Well Done
Heard a snippet of her speech on the Morning Ireland this morning… the bit in the speech about everyone being too lazy to change the channel on the TV without the remote control was comic gold! What a brilliantly spirited speaker she is. If anyone knows of a podcast or transcript of her full speech I’d love to listen to it or read it, please.
Oops, there it is up top!
We did a head shave when Joanne was a baby to raise money for her in Mullagh Co Cavan she looks great
People need to fight battles. It’s fundamental to human condition. We need to fight good battles, not the idiotic ones chosen for us by political/ vested interests. What this girl represents is the war we should be fighting- one of massive human endeavour.
Why are there thumbs down to some of the comments? I think it’s done in error. The journal should consider making it a bit more difficult to vote on a comment.
You can never change the waves that hit you in life but you can learn to surf.
What a fantastic person she is.
She is blessed with an attitude that means she will always be happy.
Was it not her 16th birthday yesterday as well ? Some spokesperson for advancing humanity
What a remarkable young lady, she was a breath of fresh air speaking on the radio last week, i couldn’t wait to hear what she said in New York…. amazing speech, such Joie de Vivre, she is an inspiration to us all!
Brilliant stuff
The hell with building this brave girl a robot, there are already working prototypes of artificial robotic limbs (that hook up to your nerve endings allowing you to feel), lets contact this guy: http://www.ted.com/talks/todd_kuiken_a_prosthetic_arm_that_feels.html
Joanne, your an inspiration to us all.
Hope you get your Robot Best wishes
Remarkable young woman, she has such a spark. Beautiful. Best wishes to her and her family.
what a credit to her family
what a girl a credit to her family
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