
Inventor Dean Kamen’s Big Ideas - prostoalex
http://www.wsj.com/articles/inventor-dean-kamens-big-ideas-1460134825?mod=e2fb
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kqr2
Also see the documentary SlingShot (available on Netflix) :

[http://www.slingshotdoc.com/](http://www.slingshotdoc.com/)

[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3242934/](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3242934/)

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DigitalJack
That was really eye opening. I had no idea about everyday things I interact
with being invented by DK.

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chrisw957
Since this seems like it's going to morph into a thread about FRC... I started
and mentored a FIRST team at our local high school this year. It was a great
experience, but the thing I keep wondering is if an equivalent experience
could be offered for less money? I can already see that this is going to turn
into a yearly scramble for money.

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epalmer
FTC is significantly cheaper.
[http://www.firstinspires.org/robotics/ftc](http://www.firstinspires.org/robotics/ftc)

I do fundraising for a team that is 13 or 14 years old. We raise a lot of
money each year and it is always hard. Plus the parents put in a lot of money.
Or at least some do. The less affluent schools have a harder time. That said I
have seem some great robots come out off underserved schools.

I do have to say that after 6 years of mentoring this FRC team (my last child
is aging out), I am looking forward to going back to being a FLL, FTC and FRC
volunteer and no longer doing team mentoring. I started volunteering 11 years
ago.

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vyrotek
I'm looking forward to getting involved in these other programs. My oldest is
excited to join her school's team next year. She'll be entering the 3rd grade.
I'm not familiar with how anything outside of FRC works. But I'm probably
going to be busy finding time to help her team and my FRC team.

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epalmer
FLL is the best program to start with at 9 years old. The balance between
robots, research, presentations and core values gives students of all sorts a
chance to grow.

I coached FLL 4 years and I stay in touch with most of the students. They grew
and continue to grow from FLL. The ones that go on to FTC or FRC are amazing
young adults.

The FIRST program is a cornerstone of what I spend my outside of work time on.
I will continue as a volunteer now that we are aging out.

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webkike
A lot of people seem to appreciate Kamen for FRC so I would like to offer my
alternative experience: I enjoyed the comradery that came with my high school
robotics club, but man I did I absolutely hate the actual competitions.
Firstly, being fairly experienced at programming meant that I wasn't doing
anything interesting. They tried to make computer vision a focus, but
autonomous mode never lasted long enough for it to ever matter in point
values. Secondly, it's hardly "competitive". The people that win these
competitions are the people from the richest neighborhoods. When I competed in
the Bay Area pretty much every regional was won by the cheesy poofs. Why? They
literally got NASA Ames to build them their robot. Thirdly, the actual games
are incredibly stupid. My first year in highschool the competition was just
soccer. It was a simple, well established, competitive game, and the
tournaments were fun for it. Every year subsequent had a game way more
ridiculous than the last year's.

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striking
Many times agreed. I'm fairly sure the computer vision stuff was pushed by NI
because heavy sponsorship. And one of the recent games, Aerial Assist, was
actually fun... because it was focused on the interaction between robots and
teamwork between them, and because even a Kit-O-Parts robot with nothing else
on it was a valuable asset when driven correctly.

FRC was fun because of the people. Not because of FRC.

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mc42
I'm going to second your comment. My experience in FRC has _only_ been
worthwhile because of the people I've met. I suppose it's a form of
networking, but quite legitimately having a team that drives for one goal
together, not in either a "corporate" or "anti-corporate" but rather in a
"this is cool" way, is inspiring.

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jonathannorris
FIRST has had a massive impact on my life, as a student and now a mentor, I
believe it can be a engine for change. 3/4 co-founders of our company
(Taplytics W14) are FIRST alumni.

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Animats
How's his water purifier doing? Lots of press coverage up to 2012, then
silence. It worked, but the cost of the prototypes was insanely high. It was
supposed to become cheap.

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justin66
> It was supposed to become cheap.

I wouldn't hold my breath on that. A Segway scooter still costs over six
thousand dollars.

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shpx
These days we call them hoverboards and you can buy them for a few hundred
bucks from china.

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taveras
Kamen is a legend in my eyes. Taking part of FIRST steered several classmates
and I to become engineers. Electrical, mechanical, and software!

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epalmer
My youngest is a senior in High School and will be getting a Engineering
degree starting in 2017. All because of FIRST Robotics started by Dean Kamen.
Her mom and I are very grateful for FIRST robotics and the influence it has
had on our two girls.

Edit: corrected typo

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ThePaco
Dean Kamen is an amazing man. Myself and many other FIRST Alumni thank him,
Woody Flowers, and countless other volunteers for creating such an amazing
organization.

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punnerud
Key takeaways: #### About the inventor of Segway and iBot #### Started a large
robotic competion #### Sports vs tech - " “Most of the superstars in
technology could buy the whole NBA or the whole NFL.." #### Sold segway in
2009, won't tell what he earned #### Thoughts about time: “I don’t want to
waste any of [it]…so I like to do important things, and to me, important
things are identifying problems that would be a real challenge to solve.” ####
Science vs science fiction: “The only difference between science fiction and
science is timing. learning to build robots, he adds, gives students useful
skills for a career in technology. “It’s the only sport where every kid can
turn pro,”

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Mizza
> “It’s the only sport where every kid can turn pro”

This is a pretty incredible quote.

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epalmer
We have near 100% college attendance from alumni and about 80% go into STEM
majors. Many get scholarships for merit.

