07 April 2009

GM and Segway team up to make awesome new two-wheeled urban vehicle

Via an article in the Wall Street Journal:

The machine, which GM says it aims to develop by 2012, would run on batteries and use wireless technology to avoid traffic backups and navigate cities.

Watch Dean Kamen of Segway talk about inventing and giving >>
Watch Larry Burns of GM talk about reinventing the car >>

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17 March 2009

I'll wait for the bicycle version

It takes a certain courage to look at the design of nearly every ground vehicle that exists and say, "You know the real problem with these? They run on wheels." A stunned silence descended over the TED office as this amazing demo video hopped from email to email, and we think you may react the same. Or, possibly, by shrieking.

The inspiration for this vehicle is Theo Jansen's kinetic sculptures and, we suspect, Dean Kamen's Segway.

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29 October 2008

Dean Kamen says America needs a geek overhaul

From BoingBoing: TED alum, Segway creator and inventor of a groundbreaking prosthetic arm, Dean Kamen was interviewed recently by John Meigs, editor-in-chief of Popular Mechanics, where he discussed his ideas about education and technology, and why it’s so important for kids to learn how to build and then stage elaborate death matches with 120-pound robots.

“The next president should recognize the power of technology,” Kamen says in the interview. “Technology is how we create wealth, how we cure diseases, how we'll build an environment that's sustainable and also gives people the capacity to pull more out of this world and still leave it better than when they found it."

With his nonprofit organization FIRST, Kamen has been teaching kids that geeks have more fun since 1989. Watch him give his inspiring 2002 TEDtalk. -- Sierra Feldner-Shaw

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26 October 2008

Johnny Lee on the power of video demos

In today's New York Times, Johnny Lee talks about his clever Wii hacks -- and how he shared them with the world via viral video. Johnny Lee's TEDTalk, in which he shows how to make an interactive whiteboard from a $40 game controller, is a perpetual Top 10 talk on TED.com. Lee's amazing YouTube videos and his TEDTalk have helped to spread this cheap-but-effective educational tool around the world. From the story:

Some 700,000 people, many of them teachers, have downloaded the software, Mr. Lee says. Much more expensive whiteboards may offer more features and better image resolution, but Mr. Lee’s version is adequate for most classroom applications.

For more video demos from TED, check out:

Hod Lipson's "self-aware" robots >>
Dean Kamen's moving demo of a robotic arm >>
Blaise Aguera y Arcas' demo of Seadragon and Photosynth >>

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29 April 2008

Bionic athletes and the future of sports

ESPN The Magazine's April 23 cover story takes a look at the future of sports -- a world where prosthetics can enhance athletic skill beyond current human capabilities:

The prosthetic-enhanced athlete will be able to run faster, jump higher and pitch harder than mere mortals. From an idea lab at MIT to a prosthetic design company in Iceland to amputees who see no limits to what their bodies can attain, [...] technology will change the way we think about what is possible for the human body to achieve.

The article is a great complement to Dean Kamen's 2007 TEDTalk, which offers a preview of an extraordinary prosthetic arm and a perspective on the hope it gives to maimed soldiers.

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16 February 2008

Dean Kamen's arm may enter clinical trials soon

From IEEE Spectrum magazine:

Dean Kamen's “Luke arm” -- a prosthesis named for the remarkably lifelike prosthetic worn by Luke Skywalker in Star Wars -- came to the end of its two-year funding last month. Its fate now rests in the hands of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), which funded the project. If DARPA gives the project the green light -- and some greenbacks -- the state-of-the-art bionic arm will go into clinical trials. If all goes well, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration gives its approval, returning veterans could be wearing the new artificial limb by next year. ...

Read more (and watch new video of the arm in action) on the IEEE's site >>

And watch Dean Kamen's moving TEDTalk on this project, unveiled at TED2007, right here:

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16 February 2008

14 ways to fix the future

The National Academies' "Grand Challenges for Engineering" list, released yesterday, runs down the 14 most pressing issues we must face in the 21st century. Creating access to clean water ... restoring our cities ... engineering new medicines and new ways of providing care ... the list is vast and inspiring. Look on the Next Steps area to find out where we can go from here.

The committee that selected these 14 Grand Challenges includes TEDTalks speakers Jaime Lerner, Dean Kamen, Craig Venter, Larry Page and Ray Kurzweil.

Listen to Ray Kurzweil at the press conference, discussing the future of solar power >>

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17 October 2007

PopMech's 2007 Breakthrough Awards

Some familiar TED faces and themes turn up in Popular Mechanics' 2007 Breakthrough Awards, published in the magazine's November issue. Jeff Han's multitouch wall (watch his 2006 TEDTalk) and Hod Lipson's print-anything printer (related to his work on robots) are named as two of the awards' "8 Bold Ideas" for 2007.

If you were moved and inspired by Amy Smith's TEDTalk on her developing-world technologies, check out PopMech's profile of the like-minded Ashok Gadgil and Christina Galitsky and the cookstove they developed for use in Darfur, or 2006 winner Jock Brandis and his portable peanut sheller. If Dean Kamen's robotic prosthetic arm TEDTalk interested you, dive into the video report on Johns Hopkins' project. It's a fascinating, well-reported awards package.

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28 August 2007

Dean Kamen previews an extraordinary new prosthetic arm, on TED.com

Inventor Dean Kamen gives a 5-minute talk about the extraordinary prosthetic arm he’s developing at the request of the US Department of Defense, to help the 1,600 "kids" who've come back from Iraq without an arm (and the two dozen who’ve lost both arms). Kamen's commitment to using technology to solve problems, and his respect for the human spirit, have never been more clear than in this deeply moving clip. (Recorded March 2007 in Monterey, California. Duration: 05:41.)

Watch Dean Kamen's talk on TED.com, where you can download it, rate it, comment on it and find other talks and performances, including Kamen's 2002 talk on inventing and giving.

Read more about Dean Kamen on TED.com.

NEW: Read the transcript >>

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20 April 2007

Dean Kamen on TED.com

Inventor Dean Kamen lays out his argument for the Segway and offers a peek into his next big ideas (portable energy and water purification for developing countries).

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