
Dean Kamen On Colbert Report: Segway Inventor Has New Device For Injured Troops - icey
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/04/06/dean-kamen-on-colbert-rep_n_526946.html
======
stan_rogers
This is, of course, going to be godawful expensive -- but I hope it gets
treated as a "right" in a way that the iBot chair wasn't. I don't mean this
particular device necessarily, but there needs to be something driving these
enabling technologies to the point that economies of scale can bring the
injured (and, where possible, those suffering from congenital disabilities)
into full participation in this world. Accommodation is nice, but removing the
need for accommodation would be a hell of a lot better for all of us.

~~~
sp332
The trouble with the iBot was that it was only reimbursed as a wheelchair. You
wouldn't believe the hassle Dean Kamen went through with various government
agencies and legislators trying to get it reimbursed at a reasonable rate, but
it never happened.

I think prosthetics are better in this regard. Kamen went after arms
specifically because prosthetic legs are already really advanced (therefore
expensive and properly reimbursed).

~~~
stan_rogers
See, that's the kind of nonsense we need to be done with once and for all. A
"mere wheelchair" is something a person recovering from an accident or surgery
might need to use for a few weeks, or, perhaps, something like the equivalent
of a bicycle for someone making a deliberate decision to be active. But for an
alarmingly large number of people -- quads, high-loss paras, people with CP,
MS or spinabifida, etc -- the "chair" _is_ a prosthesis, a strap-on body that
allows them to move through and interact with a world that is otherwise denied
to them. Until enough people can see that, we can't say we've progressed much
beyond the point of handing out begging-bowls...

------
rufo
Wikipedia linked to this article with some details on the arm:
[http://spectrum.ieee.org/biomedical/bionics/dean-kamens-
luke...](http://spectrum.ieee.org/biomedical/bionics/dean-kamens-luke-arm-
prosthesis-readies-for-clinical-trials)

------
orblivion
So, how does it _work_?

~~~
sp332
I'm not sure where people got the idea that it's controlled by myoelectrics,
because it's not. (They're not ruling it out for future versions.) The current
version is controlled by reading physical force on pads placed on various
muscle groups and in the shoes. You have to actually contract muscles/curl
your toes to control the arm.

------
adolph
Someone who has time to listen to the whole thing:

Do they mention Zaphod Beeblebrox?

~~~
roryokane
No, they don’t.

