Innovator Profiles: Dean Kamen’s tireless drive for invention

Aug. 21, 2008

In 2006, Dean Kamen told R&D Magazine that if he’s awake, he’s working. For this alone, the 2006 Innovator of the Year could be compared to Thomas Edison. Throw in 150 patents and worldwide name recognition and you have the makings of perhaps the world’s preeminent modern inventor.

At the same time, Kamen is much more of a collaborator than Edison ever was. Although his home is a reclusive haven on an island off of New Hampshire, the inventor is maintains a large research organization in Manchester, N.H., called DEKA Research & Development Corp., and is singularly dedicated to popularizing science and technology among young people. He has turned science and engineering into a fun sport with FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology). The organization, which is well known for its robotics competitions for students, has grown to include nearly 14,000 schools from 38 countries.

Enter the Segway HT (human transport), which debuted to much fanfare and captured the public’s imagination but never quite fulfilled its promise as something that would change the lives of millions. Perhaps it arrived too soon. The Segway and its variants are seeing a resurgence of interest as gas prices escalate. Police departments, in particular, are buying them en masse to help reduce their high fuel costs. This steady upswing in interest has helped Segway raise money, several million dollars at a time.

Meanwhile, DEKA Research has moved on to other projects. One of the most exciting new devices, a bionic arm, is like other Kamen inventions in that it is ultimately designed to be useful to a large number of people.

Nicknamed the “Luke Arm” after the prosthetic that Luke Skywalker wore in “Star Wars” the bionic arm is designed to connected to nerve endings in such as way as to allow it to be controlled by the wearer.

Most recently shown this spring at Dow Jones’ D6 conference, the arm was result of a high-priority challenge from DARPA. The large number of combat veterans returning home from Iraq with missing limbs reportedly prompted officials from the government’s military research arm to visit Kamen.

At first, Kamen was skeptical the technology yet existed, but put together a team and told DARPA he would build one in just a year, half the time officials had requested. Less than a year later, an amputee who had lost both arms was able to use the Luke Arm to manipulate objects after less than two hours of training. More than 200,000 people have viewed the video of this demonstration on YouTube.

With so many possible degrees of freedom in the motion of the arm, Kamen says, the most difficult part of development was learning how to create macros that could be programmed into the arm to shorten the process for the user.

In addition to the “Luke Arm” Kamen has a number of inventions in DEKA’s busy pipeline. They include:

• The Stirling Cycle Engine: The Stirling Cycle Engine was devised in the early 1800s as a safe and efficient alternative to steam power. In its original incarnations, it was a large, air charged, low pressure, low power machine, made of cast iron, brass, bricks, and wood. One section of the engine was kept hot, another section cold. The air contained within the closed cycle engine was cyclically heated, expanded, cooled, and compressed as the machine would operate. Mechanical power was extracted from a rotating output shaft. The Stirling Engine’s usage was primarily industrial throughout the 1800s, before its obsolescence at the turn of the century with the advent of the internal combustion engine. The Stirling Engine possesses an inherently high potential for thermodynamic efficiency, but has been historically plagued with real world, practical problems. The limitations of materials, heat transfer efficiency, and engine design were and remain, so far, fundamental constraints on the engine’s performance capabilities. In light of the technical advances over the past 150 years, however, almost all aspects of the engine can now be improved and modernized, taking the engine from a low power, cast-iron, 19th century giant, to a high performance, high output, efficient machine of the 21st century. New materials in the high-temperature sections of the engine and high performance bearings and seals enable the production of compact, efficient, high-speed machines. In addition, the use of computer aided design systems, the ability to acquire and contain light, high performance gasses such as hydrogen and helium within an engine at high-pressure, and the use of microprocessors to control engine operation all contribute to these potential improvements. Today, the value of a small, clean, quiet, efficient, power source is greater than ever, particularly in view of the engine’s inherent flexibility in fuel source.
• INDEPENDENCE IBOT 4000 Mobility System: Developed for Independence Technology (www.ibotnow.com) a division of Johnson & Johnson, the INDEPENDENCE iBOT 4000 Mobility System is a sophisticated mobility aid for the physically challenged, designed to climb stairs and traverse uneven terrain. The iBOT uses self-balancing technology, allowing users to better operate in a world architected for those with balance.
• The Baxter HomeChoice PD is a peritoneal dialysis machine, designed and developed by DEKA. Smaller and lighter than its predecessor, the Homechoice PD allows patients with chronic renal failure to travel to far away destinations by packing their HomeChoice PD machine under the seat of an airplane, or in the trunk of an automobile. Patented "FMS" technology, DEKA's unique fluid management system, provides the basis for the HomeChoice PD machine, which has given dialysis patients increased freedom, safety, and functionality. More information is at www.baxter.com.
• Hydroflex Irrigation Pump, Davol Inc.'s Hydroflex is an irrigation pump designed, developed, and manufactured by DEKA in partnership with Davol. Before the Hydroflex, common medical procedures such as: laproscopy, arthroscopy, and hysteroscopy required different, dedicated irrigation pumps. Now, practitioners need only one system.
• Intravascular Stent, DEKA worked with Johnson & Johnson and later Cordis Corporation, a Johnson & Johnson Company, to improve the design of the Palmaz-Schartz stent, the first intravascular stent proven to reduce blockage in arteries. The result of these development efforts was the Cordis Corporation’s Crown stent. The Crown stent retained the high radial strength of the original Palmaz-Schatz stent, yet was significantly easier to insert into a patient due to the improved design and increased flexibility.
• Therakos: The THERAKOS UVAR XTS System is an advanced and innovative technology used to treat cutaneous T-cell lymphoma (CTCL). The Fluid Logic Controller and Module, which is the heart of the System, was designed and continues to be manufactured by DEKA. It utilizes DEKA’s patented FMS Technology to measure, move, pump, and route fluid throughout the System.

DEKA Research, http://www.dekaresearch.com/

See Dean Kamen’s “Luke” arm in action, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0_mLumx-6Y

SOURCES: Silicon Valley Insider; All Things Digital, DEKA R&D Corp.