Posted 04.06.2010 at 5:51 pm
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Kamen and the Luke Arm on Colbert
Those of you who weren’t completely immersed in Duke’s nail-biter of a victory over Butler in the NCAA basketball title game last night may have noticed that Stephen Colbert had inventor and sci-tech evangelist Dean Kamen appear as the headlining guest on last night’s Colbert Report showing off the latest version of DEKA Labs’ most exciting brainchild: the Luke Arm.
Named for Luke Skywalker (who else?), the Luke arm began as part of DARPA’s Revolutionizing Prosthetics program and has evolved into one of the most sophisticated prosthetic limbs ever produced. And Kamen, never one to miss a good opportunity to tout the benefits of science and technology, gave viewers an impressive firsthand demonstration of just how far the arm has come since DEKA Labs undertook the project in 2005:
The idea behind DARPA’s funding of the arm, of course, is to create a neurally-controlled limb that will help amputees function much as they did before losing a limb – particularly those amputees returning home from Iraq and Afghanistan after losing limbs. As Kamen shows Colbert, we haven’t quite achieved Skywalker-like seamless bionic control, but we’re getting closer all the time.
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Small companies like Deka are leading the way in cutting edge hardware while small companies like 1robotcompanion lead the way with software. The future looks bright as innovation continues are breakneck speed.
Remarkable inventor mixed with a passion and kindness for our wounded young veterans and mankind in general. Now here is a person deserving of a Nobel award. But, soon enough, I hope although I suspect he may go to the award ceremony wearing his denims. While we can oh and ah as we should about the Luke Arm and what it will do once developed and in production for those young vets who have suffered upper extremity amputations, I wished he'd rolled on Colbert in his iBOT Mobility System so Colbert could have shown the world how utterly stupid and heartless is our government. We already have technology that can put a wheelchair bound veteran back on equal "footing" standing eye level in equality with a standing adult and yet it is mothballed because CMS and the VA both don't think standing tall matters. Shame on America for allowing the iBOT to die.
he doing a really good job with FIRST
i think he deserve a lot more support from our government.
Bravo this man deserves a medal he has done so much to help the wounded. Bravo!Bravo!