Philosophical framework for the documentary trailer
"A wheelchair is the most intimate piece of furniture ever designed. It is made for one body. It reflects not just the person who sits in it, but the society that shaped it."
A signal cannot reach its destination.
At the most abstract level, this is a film about transmission failure. A message originates at point A but cannot arrive at point B.
When the channel is compromised, the signal degrades or stops entirely.
Every purposeful action follows this pattern:
Disability, abstracted: The channel is constrained.
The will is intact. The desired effect is clear. But the channel cannot carry the signal.
Theme: Intention exists. Action does not follow.
Emotional Beat: Frustration, resignation
Visual Motifs:
Key Line: "There are things I've just... accepted I can't do."
Theme: The thing closest to your body is the thing you least control.
Emotional Beat: Fear, alienation from one's own body
Visual Motifs:
Key Lines:
Theme: Each wheelchair design answered a question about movement.
Emotional Beat: Wonder, historical weight
Visual Motifs:
Key Line: "Each material, each design, unlocked something new." — Dr. Cooper
Theme: RAMMP: the channel gains intelligence.
Emotional Beat: Hope, collaboration
Visual Motifs:
Key Lines:
Theme: Give people back their own bodies.
Emotional Beat: Resolution, ownership
Visual Motifs:
Key Lines:
In Zen philosophy, mushin refers to a state where the mind is free from thought, emotion, and ego. The practitioner acts without hesitation, without the interference of conscious deliberation. Action flows directly from intention.
A swordsman in mushin doesn't think about cutting — the cut happens.
A calligrapher in mushin doesn't plan the stroke — the brush moves.
This is the ideal state: intention and action unified, with nothing in between.
For someone with a physical disability, this flow is interrupted. The intention arises, but the body introduces a gap — a delay, a barrier, an impossibility.
This isn't a failure of will. It's a failure of transmission. The intention is pure. The channel is blocked.
What if technology could restore that flow?
Not by replacing the person's will, but by reading their intention and executing it faithfully. The robotic arm becomes an extension of the self — not a separate tool to be consciously operated, but a limb that responds to thought.
This is the promise of shared autonomy: the human provides intention, the machine provides capability. Together, they achieve what neither could alone.
The goal isn't to make the person dependent on technology. It's to make the technology disappear — to become so seamless that action flows from intention without friction.
That's mushin. That's what we're building toward.
The trailer draws visual inspiration from the Lotus Theory 1 concept car commercials:
The more capable the tool, the greater the risk of losing agency.
RAMMP's solution: Shared autonomy — the user retains agency while gaining capability. The human remains the author of the action. The robot is the instrument.
The tool extends reach but requires full manual control.
Example: A stick to reach a high shelf.
The tool multiplies force or capability.
Example: A manual wheelchair — leg motion translated to wheel motion.
Energy is added externally; control remains with the user.
Example: A power wheelchair — joystick translates intention to motor action.
The system interprets intention and handles complexity.
Example: Shared autonomy — user specifies goal, system executes path.
The boundary between self and tool dissolves.
Example: The aspiration — technology so intuitive it feels like the self.
RAMMP operates at Level 4, reaching toward Level 5.
A film about restoring the connection between wanting and doing — and giving people back their own bodies.