February 6, 2008
Dean Kamen's Luke Arm
Dean Kamen, most widely known for inventing the Segway, is working on a prosthetic arm inspired by the one Luke had in the Star Wars films. I saw a video of Kamen's presentation at TED a little while back. It's a great talk--he describes what the man from DARPA asked for (the arm is being designed under a DoD contract for use by returning veterans with amputated limbs), and he remembers being incredulous and doubtful that it could be done, but the kind of language he uses to describe the design problem hints at how much he was already thinking about it.
Here is a video of a tester of the arm, whose lost both arms at the shoulder 26 years ago. He picks up car keys, stacks cups, and drinks from a stemware glass. Video
Via Make.
Posted by dham at February 6, 2008 4:53 PM | TrackBack