We've been hearing rumblings of inventor extraordinaire Dean Kamen's latest project: building a next-gen robotic prosthesis for soldiers wounded in the war. Details are still light, but apparently initial prototypes have been fabbed, and at TED Dean showed off an early video of the arm in action, performing such precise actions as picking up a pen and scratching a nose. Apparently it weighs six pounds, but we're sorely lacking information on this thing right now -- like whether or not you'll be able to install gyro-wheels and balance yourself -- so watch out for what some are hoping will be the new Cadillac of limb prosthetics in the coming months.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Taylor @ Mar 11th 2007 6:38PM
Now if only he could launch a good haircut...
-Taylor
JoshLowry @ Mar 11th 2007 6:47PM
Good for him, I like this guy. He has always been willing to work on small independent projects such as this. He also works on the larger projects like the link states. Hopefully the prototype they are working on actually does become a "cadillac".
- Josh
Where's your head at? - http://www.StateOfBrain.com
Scooter @ Mar 11th 2007 7:04PM
Cool... He's finally creating a product that someone could use.
Scooter
http://www.gadgetgrid.com/
Rick @ Mar 11th 2007 8:04PM
Yes, kidney dialysis. What a waste of time.
Ben @ Mar 11th 2007 8:59PM
Dean Kamen...nothing that people can actually use? I really do hope that was a sarcastic remark...Let us take a peak at just SOME of the stuff Dean Kamen is responsible for...
-A compressed air powered device which would launch a human into the air in order to quickly launch SWAT teams or other emergency workers to the roofs of tall, inaccessible buildings
-The AutoSyringe, a new type of mobile dialysis system for medical applications.
-The first insulin pump.
-An all-terrain electric wheelchair known as the iBOT using many of the same gyroscopic balancing technologies that later made their way into the Segway.
-The FIRST robotics program
-Deka Reasearch http://www.dekaresearch.com/
Nope, he hasnt done anything...
LukeA @ Mar 11th 2007 7:46PM
How far is he going to launch it?
Eagle @ Mar 11th 2007 7:58PM
Its looks pretty cool you can see the video here
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=9048454679778238317&q=dean+kamen+arm&hl=en
julian @ Mar 11th 2007 9:57PM
i am a member of one of the FIRST Robotics teams and he announced this at our regional competition and received a very emotional response from the attendees. it looks like it is a promising technology.
snitni4 @ Mar 11th 2007 11:03PM
yay FIRST!!!
Chuckles McGee @ Mar 12th 2007 12:08AM
Pish, I was expecting you'd use this pic:
http://www.hatii.arts.gla.ac.uk/MultimediaStudentProjects/00-01/0003637k/project/images/galleries/cyborg1.jpg
I for one welcome our cybernetic robot overlords.
Haxxy @ Mar 12th 2007 12:37AM
Dean's niece goes to my school. Her name is Libby. I'll just ask her about it. =P
-Haxxy
Jeff @ Mar 12th 2007 1:19AM
You know what? I was in FIRST. And you know what else? It sucked. Dean Kamen is a total toolbox. I'm really really glad he channels his energies into building things people can use (besides the Segway...so worthless), but he's a jerk. He constantly insults team sports and cheapens everyone involved in them. He acts like FIRST is the greatest thing anyone has ever come up with. He put a USPTO official on the spot about a patent in front of a crowded Georgia Dome...even worse, he was trying to patent the "coopertition," the flat out dumbest idea to ever come to team "sports." Every time he makes a speech at a Robotics event, all he talks about is how awesome FIRST is and how awesome DEKA is and how much team sports totally blow because he got picked last in dodge ball as a kid. Our whole team hated him and hated the atmosphere of the FIRST matches. We didn't want to help out the other teams (but we did because we're not assholes), we didn't want to dress in stupid costumes, we didn't want to be "graciously professional," we wanted to build a kickass robot and beat all the nerds into submission and then laugh about it. It was a game, a competition, not some gathering of people who just happened to bring robots with them. Excuse us for having a drive to win. So, anyway, DEKA helps people and that's great, but Dean Kamen is a total tool. Yeah, downmod me, I don't care.
nevets @ Mar 24th 2007 12:00PM
Sounds like you're an aspiring teacher; stupid is as stupid does.
Justin @ May 20th 2007 2:07AM
Sounds like you missed the whole point of FIRST... although I admit Dean's speeches tend to be rambling.
TerryWood @ Mar 12th 2007 1:50AM
My family runs a prosthetic and orthotic firm, one that has been around for 125 years and the first to create a double slip socket, and I HOPE this guy gets two very simple things in the design. 1: It must be insanely strong. Everyday I worked as a technician, I would be fixing legs made of titanium and carbon fiber. People using these eventually act like they are a normal body part and WILL break.
2: Make them affordable to buy and fix. Currently, things like OttoBocks C-leg cost thousands of dollars to fix. The initial cost is roughly $30,000 for C-Leg module in addition to around 50 hours of labor and a final cost of nearly $65,000 - $100,000. Seems expensive but trust me, we barely pull profits!
If he can make these arms industrial enough to stand up the the abuses we normally put our bodies through, and make them cost less than a BMW M3, it will fuel a revolution. But I have seen the same hope in other products before, only for them to be too expensive for wide usage. Much like the Segway and the Independence Technology iBOT (we are an authorized retailer of the latter) this will be reserved for those who can afford a large pricetag. I'm predicting near a $200,000 dollar price tag, in addition to the outcasting of smaller companies like ours, for larger prosthetic firms like Hanger.
Xenoterranos @ Mar 12th 2007 2:37AM
Seriously, this guy reminds me or Prof. Farswarth sometimes. I'm just waiting for him to announce a Finglonger with gyroscopes in it.
johnny TEAM 599!!! @ Mar 12th 2007 3:11AM
woot FIRST!!!!
im on team 599
haha
pretty neat....mite see him at nationals
^_^
i just thought he was some head of first
not some super inventor guy
lol
cool
Billfred @ Mar 12th 2007 3:50PM
A couple of weeks ago, Dean was in town and had a forum with the local FIRST Robotics Competition teams. (Yes, I'm a mentor on team 1618, but that's neither here nor there.) He started off by showing some videos of it in action--if they can figure out the control part of it (which he is working on), it's going to be amazing.
(By the way, the video he showed us was clearly done in Windows Movie Maker. Make from that what you will, but I just found it interesting.)
Beata Yamin @ Mar 12th 2007 6:58PM
Can you say mastercheif from Halo. A whole army of cyborg soilders run!!!!
Tim @ May 16th 2007 11:23PM
Here is an alternative and less expesive http://www.manosydedos.com