TED 2007: Dean Kamen’s bionic arm

Dean Kamen, inventor of the Segway, has developed a bionic arm that will be used by soldiers returning from Iraq without their limbs.

The robotic arm, which attaches to the shoulder, can sense pressure, and can pick up a bottle of water and bring it to the drinker’s mouth, scratch the person’s nose and pick up a piece of paper.

Kamen had been approached by a government official who requested his help to improve the current solution for soldiers who have lost their arms, which he said is currently not much more than a stick with a hook.

“I don’t need another mission,” said Kamen, who visited the Walter Reed hospital a few weeks ago. “But I kept thinking of these kids with no arms.”

In one instance, Kamen said, he met a soldier sitting at a table who said he was lucky because he had lost his left arm, not his right, dominant arm. Then the soldier pushed away from the table and Kamen said he was also missing his two legs.

Ellen Lee