Think about not having the use of your arms–not being able to pick up that glass on the table, not being able to turn that door knob.
Think about not being able to do all those other things that the rest of us take for granted and what can be done to help those who suffer.
In this two-part series we talk to two men who are doing something about the problem.
Yesterday, we talked with Samuel Fleurent Beauchemin, who is devoting his life to never-ending fund-raising campaigns to raise money for people who lack the use of their arms.
Today, a conversation with Charles Deguire, the president of the Montreal firm Kinova Robotics, which manufactures the JACO robotic arm.
Mix passion with innovation, shake them with love and chances are you’re going to going to come out with something pretty meaningful.
And, hey, since you’re a business you might even make some money.
That’s exactly what Charles Duguire and his partner, Louis-Joseph Caron-L’écuyer, have done.
Ten years ago they started a company called Kinova Robitics
It’s the only company of its kind in Canada and one of the few in the world. (There are fewer than 20 companies in the world developing robotic arms.)
It now gets 88 per cent of its revenue from from exports.
In short, it’s successful in a traditional business sense, having doubled it’s employees to 75 and currerntly expanding its campus.
But it’s successful in an even bigger way.
The owners of Kinova Robotics have put innovation and passion to good work.
They created the JACO robotic arm, a boon for those among us who lack the use of their hands because of incurable and degenerative neuromuscular disorders.
RCI spoke with Mr. Deguire by phone on Tuesday.
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