Breakout Artist (Profile of Dean Kamen - Inventor of "IT")

Wired Magazine ^ | Scott Kirsner

[SamAdams76]

Dean Kamen, multimillionaire inventrepreneur, is going global with a robochair that climbs stairs, a miracle motor that fights disease, and his wildest notion of all - that scientists will be the 21st century's superstars.

Dean Kamen's sense of what's possible is governed by the immutable laws of nature. Everything else is up for grabs.

[SamAdams76]

It would appear that Dean Kamen is not the "left-wing environmental wacko" that many Freepers are calling him tonight because of his motor scooter invention. Kamen sounds like a very intelligent guy and I wish him luck with the invention he is going to unveil tomorrow.

[RoadKing]

From what I've heard, this 'robochair' technology has been bought out by Johnson & Johnson and will be to market for about $25,000 in a year or so. I imagine, like everything else, the price will come down when/if it is ever mass produced.

[SamAdams76]

Here is a picture of the "IT" invention. Look to the rear at the man in the blue shirt.

[kAcknor]

kAcknor Sez:

"left-wing environmental wacko"

To tell the truth, I don't care if this guy's motivation is environmental, financial, greed, selfish, philanthropic, benevolent or just plain nuts.

We need more like him. Innovation of any kind, let alone something that may have far reaching applications such as this is needed.

"yIQeqQo' neH, DoS yIqIp!" (Don't just aim, hit the target!)

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[No!]

Sounds like John Gault to me...

[rintense]

[Cicero]

Great article. I don't think you can reliably classify this kind of maverick as either a liberal or a conservative. Certainly, as you say, he doesn't sound like a left-winger. He'll do what he wants and concentrate his energies on getting there, and if he needs Jean Shaheen and George W. Bush to accomplish it, he'll make friends of them both.

[RedBloodedAmerican]

GINGER

[xm177e2]

Kamen talks fast, and his voice retains the brassy streak of his native Long Island. He's funny and charismatic, but he has the air of someone used to shouldering big, improbable projects - driven, haunted, quixotic. He doesn't take vacations, and he hasn't paused to marry. "If I'm awake, I'm working," he says. "Deka and First are my work, my family, my hobby. They're everything."

I hope he donates to a sperm bank, because his DNA is just what this planet needs.

[syriacus]

He'll do what he wants and concentrate his energies on getting there, and if he needs Jean Shaheen and George W. Bush to accomplish it, he'll make friends of them both.

I've heard he is already friends with Bush's father.