Dean Kamen's robotic prosthetic arm gets detailed on video

While you'd heard the whispers of a robotic prosthetic arm being crafted by Dean Kamen and his engineering colleagues, very little details have since surfaced on the project. Thankfully, a video was captured during a recent conference in Honolulu, Hawaii where Dean was addressing the FIRST Robotics competition. During the speech, however, he segued (ahem) into a brief glimpse at what's been going on behind the scenes with the device. Shown as "Gen X - Separate Exo Control," the robotic arm was seen demonstrated by team members grasping a water bottle from a friend, picking up an ink pen and turning the wrist over in order to write, and even scratching his nose. Kamen explained that haptic response was paramount, and the "fully completed" prototype sports 14 degrees of freedom (and actuators) and weighs less than nine pounds. Click on through for the captured demonstration.

[Via BoingBoing]

[Dan Isaacs @ May 20th 2007 1:27AM]

*sigh* How unfortunate that we have so many smart people working on ways to feed the war machine, instead of working on ways to free ourselves from fossil fuels, thereby exterminating the war machine.

[stewrt @ May 20th 2007 7:22AM]

Dan Isaacs......

Look up this guy on Wikipedia or learn what other accomplishments he has made. And continues to make before you say bad crap about him.
And guy buy a Prius or a bicycle!!!!!!!


Stu

[Joel Laumans @ May 20th 2007 2:02AM]

For reasons like this, I love Kamen

[NovaLand @ May 20th 2007 3:53AM]

Too bad the sound sucked.

[FullPower @ May 20th 2007 5:04AM]

TO Dan Isaacs:

Since you're so smart and observant, just exactly what are you personally inventing to free the world from fossil fuels? Or is the only thing you can be creative is commentary and pointing fingers? Did it ever occur to you that Dean Kamen can't solve every single idea in the world? Dean and his team is good in robotics which, by the way, can and will in the future can and could be used to solve a critical piece in the fossil fuel use?

Perhaps these robots can be used to manufacture more sophisticated hybrid cars that can raise gas mileage by a factor or 2 or 3 or more WHILE still dramatically lowering the costs to the make these very same vehicles?

Did that idea ever occur to you? Probably not since you spend all you time finger pointing you have no idea what it takes to make a car or where the costs lie.

You sound like a typical knee-jerk liberal; always pointing fingers instead of instead of shutting up and making it happen.

[Dan Isaacs @ May 20th 2007 4:45PM]

Since you're so smart and observant, just exactly what are you personally inventing to free the world from fossil fuels? Or is the only thing you can be creative is commentary and pointing fingers?

I must say, that I am bit limited to commentary in the comment section of blog. That aside, it's not a skill I have, inventing. I'm not an inventor. I do pay a lot of taxes, though. And I don't think it out of line to have an opinion about where that money ought to go.

The "pointing fingers" irony is nice. Given the robot arm, I mean.

Did it ever occur to you that Dean Kamen can't solve every single idea in the world?

Well, it never occurred to me that I thought he could. FWIW, he has spent a lot of time working on Stirling engines, if I recall. So it seems he's working pretty hard on this very one as well.

Dean and his team is good in robotics which, by the way, can and will in the future can and could be used to solve a critical piece in the fossil fuel use?
Perhaps these robots can be used to manufacture more sophisticated hybrid cars that can raise gas mileage by a factor or 2 or 3 or more WHILE still dramatically lowering the costs to the make these very same vehicles?

I'm content with it allowing bi-laterally dismembered soldiers brush their teeth. Of course, I have no particular objection to this research, per se. I merely think it unfortunate that it's inspiration and funding came from where it did. And if I'm being tasked with debating the practicality of your imagination, I'll concede now.

Did that idea ever occur to you? Probably not since you spend all you time finger pointing you have no idea what it takes to make a car or where the costs lie. You sound like a typical knee-jerk liberal; always pointing fingers instead of instead of shutting up and making it happen.

I'm willing to bet that I, growing up in the Detroit area and having the majority of my family in the employ of various automakers, understand a great deal about how cars are made, and what the costs are. And if by "pointing fingers" you mean "identifying problems", then yes, I do spend a lot of time doing that.

[Elais @ May 20th 2007 5:39AM]

christ fullpower. The guy's annoying for saying that, but don't point fingers and call names, there are better ways of doing that although you made a good point. This arm looks nice.

[John @ May 20th 2007 5:43AM]

Have you tried giving a thought about the millions of people who have been born or have lost their upper limbs that this prosthetic arm could do to help them through their everyday lives.

[Neo @ May 20th 2007 7:07AM]

I agree wholeheartedly with John.

[pauly @ May 20th 2007 9:40AM]

Really cool arm. Glad to see Dean working on projects more interesting than the Segway.

http://www.robotliving.com

[Dan Isaacs @ May 20th 2007 9:57AM]

I know who Kamen is. And I know the good his work has done. I have handful of loved ones alive today thanks to his work. But you cannot deny that in this case it was War that led to him do this. He explicitly credits it as his inspiration. Sure it was to heal the scars of War. A noble goal, to be certain. And God knows I love DARPA research as much as the next geek. But there comes a point when enough is enough. When too much is being lost in pursuit of Energy security. Perhaps you should look into just how many of our service men and women are in need of prosthetics, or coffins, and ask yourself if it's better for us to devote so much money and smart-guy cycles to War for Energy, instead of just putting that into developing alternative Energy. Which has the greater cost in Human capital? Which is sustainable?

I'm %100 OK with DEKA getting tax money to fund this research. I just find it unfortunate that it's the Military that comes to him with the problem and the money. The money is going to the right place (in this instance) but it's coming from the wrong budget.

[mtheory @ May 20th 2007 4:08PM]

Dan,

Unfortunately you're just another rabble rouser. The first reply to your comment, which you so swiftly ignored, had you pinned. What have YOU done to fix the world besides standing around with some plackard screaming, "stop the war... stop the war... stop the ward"? You talk about not making more war over energy yet your view is too miopic. We don't operate as a simple "good and evil" oragnization. Don't buy into everything you hear on television.

You might say that the thinking behind the atom bomb was the most horrific invention of the 20th century or you could say that it was a great advancement in our thought processes. Not only did it bring about a very "clean" (which is a relative term) source of energy but a complete paradigm shift in technology. But you wouldn't see that because things are either absolutely good or absolutely evil.

It's called ignorance... By all means though don't let me stop your rant. Preach on brother.

As for the arm, Dean is a ice cold engineer. His technology is astounding but his marketing skills are terrible. Look to the i-bot and segway as examples. Who wants to look like an evil dictator rolling down the street?

Dean Kamen I salute you

[therpham @ May 20th 2007 10:27AM]

I, for one, welcome our half-human half-robot semi-soulless cyborg overlords.

[Trevor Bommersbach @ May 20th 2007 11:13AM]

It's a shame that amazing and inspiring inventions such as this get ZERO play in our nations media.

Instead our children are more concerned with Brittany Spears, Paris Hilton and American Idol.

Somebody please make a documentary about this ASAP.

[Ben @ May 20th 2007 12:09PM]

Dan, if this of all projects concerns you then I think you don't realize how much defense drives federal research funding. About 57% of all government funding research goes to defense applications (http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/infbrief/nsf06330/tab1.xls), and looking at older data you can see this percentage has been the same +/- 3% even before the war in Iraq and President Bush. As far as defense spending is concerned, it's always been twisted around in this manner to accomplish good things for the wrong reasons. Take the Eisenhower interstate for example. Furthermore, if you look at the source of funding, private investment far outweighs the government (http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/infbrief/nsf07317/fig1.gif).

I agree more money should be going toward basic energy research, but I don't see why a prosthetic limb would irk you so much when this is not much a surprise looking at it from a historical perspective. If you want better targets to aim your sights at then read "Imaginary Weapons" by Sharon Weinberger.

[Chris @ May 20th 2007 1:09PM]

Wouldn't this be cool to affix to someone that already had two arms? You could have two additional arms to do stuff like drink soda while coding or chatting.

[schlomo @ May 20th 2007 3:59PM]

actually, it's probably not possible since it uses the person's real nerves to form haptic responses and control the limb itself... i'll really shit bricks when we get bionic nerves...

[Murc @ May 20th 2007 1:48PM]

Dan - Dont you have something better to do...Like to watch "The Inconvenient Truth" for the 23rd time. *rolls eyes*

I dont see why everyone is complaining about oil....We have enough of it for several more decades of use....If we dont use it, its just sitting there going to waste. All these liberals out there (In which Al Gore is there Big Daddy) who have stopped the construction of more refineries and more drilling, in the Gulf & Alaska, and we haven’t built a nuclear power plant in decades....WHY, because of all the liberals. Humans have NO control over the worlds climate, and its not even proven fact that greenhouse gasses is whats causing the to (slowly) warm up, and on top of that humans produce a mere 4% of all the greenhouse gasses...and the US itself is a mere 1%....and you think driving a prius and changing to fluorescent light bulbs are saving the planet!.......Grow A Brain!

[J. McNair @ May 20th 2007 4:42PM]

*sigh*
Thank you, Murc and Dan Isaacs, for degenerating this thread into a political snowball fight. Dan sucks for his tired "military == bad" bellyaching. Murc sucks more for his childish "Waaah! Liberals are the root of all evils" rant. FullPower and Ben, on the other hand, win forever.

Murc:
1. Fossil fuels are better used as raw material for making plastics. The less we use for fuel, the more we have for exotic new materials. So REDUCING our oil as fuel consumption is actually *shock* GOOD FOR EVERYONE, regardless of environmental concerns.

2. Um, "decades" means our grandkids and great-grandkids won't have any fossil fuels, genius.

3. Humans CAN influence global climate. The question science is trying to answer is "do we?" And besides, Dan Isaacs didn't even MENTION the environment, so stop this strawman foolishness and get off your wingnutty soapbox.

Dan:
1. Organized Armed Forces are a necessary evil. We need them and they need us. This technology will enhance the quality of life for soldiers and civilians and I am proud that my taxpayer money goes to DARPA. You wouldn't be able to post on this board without them. You should appreciate this technology BECAUSE it will help ease the lives of wounded soldiers sent to fight the wrong war.

2. It is naive to think that ending fossil fuel dependence will magically end war in our time. Wars have been fought for many, MANY other reasons, including the one in Iraq. Get your angry liberal facts straight!

--JM

[Sc00ter @ May 21st 2007 8:42AM]

People lose their arms for other reasons than war.

[Sc00ter @ May 21st 2007 8:42AM]

Dean Kamen drives a hummer.

[jared @ May 21st 2007 10:11AM]

"Dean Kamen's Robotic Prosthetic Arm"?

Don't get me wrong; DK is the balls, but he also employs hundreds of extremely bright people who are hired to think creatively and independently. Maybe give those peeps a little credit; the article doesn't even mention the name of the company.

DEKA Research

[jared @ May 21st 2007 10:12AM]

I don't work there; it was supposed to be a link. doh.
http://www.dekaresearch.com/

[Ryan Julian @ May 23rd 2007 10:10PM]

Actually, he already debuted the video at the FIRST Championship in Atlanta in April. I have to admit it was pretty amazing.