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DanArmak comments on Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality discussion thread, February 2015, chapters 105-107 - Less Wrong
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That still doesn't explain why he needs Harry to cooperate in obtaining the Stone. Even if it's more convenient to have Harry walking along, rather than towing his stunned body, Quirrel went to a lot of trouble to secure Harry's explicit help. He actually bargained and traded promises with him.
Which also leads me to ask: why couldn't Quirrel just make Sprout or Snape mind-control Harry using Imperius? Why did he have to bargain with him?
In canon, Harry is very good at resisting Imperius, even when cast by Voldemort himself.
In canon, Harry has also resisted even scarier magic cast by Voldemort.
Good point. Although there's also whatever mind control spell Quirrel just used on Snape:
Which Google informs me is a quotation from Horace meaning '[puppet-]wires that others pull'.
Still, I agree it might be too hard to control Harry on short notice using intermediaries.
Based on Harry apparently still feeling the aura of doom when Sprout was casting spells while Imperiused in Ch. 104, it's likely that casting spells on Harry through someone else is subject to the same problems that doing it directly causes. I guess he could still use more mundane means like a tranquilizer dart and some kind of gurney, but it would be difficult to accomplish without either touching or using magic on Harry in the process.
That's a plausible answer as to why he couldn't make Sprout or Snape cast Imperius on Harry. But it doesn't explain why he seems to need Harry's active help.
He could just put Harry into a small, nonmagical cage or box, and float the box along, without his magic ever touching Harry directly. Or he could stuff Harry into the pouch, like Harry did to him in the Azkaban arc. (Granted, Harry can't turn into a snake.) If he needed Harry to be stunned for the duration, he could have told Harry to stun himself, threatening to torture the other students if he didn't.
I just made a mental connection - probably a stupid one. The pouch's capacity was recently expanded and Cedric has yet to make an appearence...