DEAN

KAMEN
Technological Leadership

Ch . Sai Aditya ( 09459 )

Arvind Kumar M ( 09465 )
Poojari Suraj ( 09467 )
B . Shankarnarayanan ( 09474 )
Be careful about trusting intuition, but be more


careful not to bend to the majority for whom

“impossible” is a comforting excuse for inaction.
 - Dean Kamen
 Background
• Born on April 5, 1951 in Rockville Centre, New York to Jack and
Evelyn Kamen

• Current residence: Bedford, New Hampshire, Manchester

• Did not do well in school where he got average grades

• Began to get paid for his inventions when he was a

teenager and earned around $60,000 a year

• Left Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Massachusetts in 1976

(without graduating) and founded his own company,
called ‘AutoSyringe’

• Sold ‘AutoSyringe’ to Baxter International in 1982 following

which he founded DEKA Research and Development
 Background
• Established FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science
and Technology) in 1989

• Also founded an educational learning center for children

called SEE (Science Enrichment Encounters)

• Holds more than 440 U.S. and foreign patents, many of

them for innovative medical devices that have expanded the
frontiers of health care worldwide

• Known as the Pied-piper of technology

 DEKA
 We’re into the basics
At DEKA we innovate around core technologies.


Most of our projects can be classified under four

main categories:
• fluid management
• mobility
• power
• water

 Kamen’s major
Inventions
• 1976: AutoSyringe (for patients
who required regular doses of
medication)
• 1993: HomeChoice (a portable
Kidney Dialysis machine)
• 1999: Independence iBOT 3000
Mobility System (a stair-
climbing wheelchair)
• 2001: Segway (a self-balancing
electric powered transporting
machine)
• 2003: Slingshot (a water purifier
and power generator)
• Luke (a robotic arm) is still in
development
“I do not want to waste any time. And if you are not


working on important things, you are wasting

time… I don’t work on a project unless I believe that
it will dramatically improve life for a bunch of
people… If you’re going to fail, you might as well
fail at the big ones.”
 – Dean Kamen
 Decision Making
Single Styles
DECISIVE HIERARCHY
FO C U S

Dean
Kamen
Multi

FLEXIBLE INTEGRATIVE

Less More

IN FO R M A T IO N
 Understanding Kamen
through

• FIRST
• iBOT
• Segway
• Slingshot
 FIRST
For Inspiration and Recognition of Science
and Technology

Fo u n d e d in 1 9 8 9 to in sp ire yo u n g p e o p le 's in te re st

a n d p a rticip a tio n in scie n ce a n d te ch n o lo g y.
N o t-fo r- p ro fit p u b lic ch a rity d e sig n s a cce ssib le ,
in n o va tive p ro g ra m s th a t m o tiva te yo u n g p e o p le
to p u rsu e e d u ca tio n a n d ca re e r o p p o rtu n itie s in
scie n ce , te ch n o lo g y , e n g in e e rin g , a n d m a th ,
w h ile b u ild in g se lf-co n fid e n ce , kn o w le d g e , a n d life
skills.
H is p a ssio n a n d d e te rm in a tio n to h e lp yo u n g
p e o p le d isco ve r th e excite m e n t a n d re w a rd s o f
scie n ce a n d te ch n o lo g y a re th e co rn e rsto n e s o f
FIR S T
 FIRST
For Inspiration and Recognition of Science
and Technology

Vision
“To transform our culture by creating a world where


science and technology are celebrated and where young

people dream of becoming science and technology
leaders."

 FIRST
For Inspiration and Recognition of Science
and Technology

Mission
Our mission is to inspire young people to be science and


technology leaders, by engaging them in exciting

mentor-based programs that build science, engineering
and technology skills, that inspire innovation, and that
foster well-rounded life capabilities including self-
confidence, communication, and leadership.
 FIRST
For Inspiration and Recognition of Science
and Technology

• The first program developed through FIRST was

the FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC), which is
designed to inspire high school students to
become engineers by giving them real world
experience working with engineers to develop a
robot
• In the 2008/09 season, over 137,000 children are
participating in 42 countries
• 2009: 42,000 high-school students on close to
1,700 teams in 40 regional competitions, seven
district competitions, and one national
championship
• Junior FIRST LEGO League for 6 to 9 year-olds
 FIRST
For Inspiration and Recognition of Science
and Technology
“I remember the very first year we gave out all the
kits of, you know, like we gave out just boxes full of
junk, and motors, and strings, and bearings, and
gears. One of the things, I’m not making this up.
One of the teams opened the box; looked inside;
saw all the stuff and asked where are the assembly
instructions?
We said to them, after trying not to laugh too hard,

we gave you this pile of stuff, and we gave you a

problem statement. Turn this pile of stuff into some
kind of a little robot that with the help of a couple of
human drivers is going to be able to go on that
playing field and pick up more tennis balls in a two
minute round than any other robot that’s sitting out
 iBOT
Watching someone in a wheelchair struggling to get


up onto a curb made us realize that it was time for

the wheelchair to be completely reinvented. The
iBOT gives disabled persons the ability to navigate
any terrain and approach life with a new sense of
dignity. The iBOT’s self-balancing technology allows
the user to go up and down staircases, navigate
difficult terrain and “stand” at eye level with the
ambulatory people around them.
 iBOT
• A sophisticated mobility aid developed for
Johnson & Johnson
• Invented in 1999
• Approved for sale by the USFDA only in
2003
• Available at a cost of $29,000
• Users were given special training on how
to use it
 iBOT
Solves three problems:


• The person can speak eye-to-eye

• Can travel on any surface – sand,
gravel or rock
• Can climb up and down the staircase
 The Segway Human
Transporter
• Dean Kamen's team developed a breakthrough
technology the company termed "Dynamic
Stabilization," which is the essence of the Segway.
• A personal transport device that uses five gyroscopes
and a built-in computer to remain upright
• The first Segway Human Transporter used no brakes
and did a nifty 12 mph. The speed and direction
(including stopping) were controlled by the rider
shifting weight and a manual turning mechanism on
one of the handlebars. When a person leans slightly
forward, the Segway HT moves forward. When
leaning back, the Segway moves back.
•
 The Segway Human
Transporter
• Gyroscopes and tilt sensors in the Segway monitor a
user's center of gravity about 100 times a second.
• One battery charge (cost of ten cents) lasts 15 miles
and the 65-pound Segway HT can run over your
toes without causing you harm.
• The consumer was able to buy the Segway in the year
2003 at the initial cost of $3,000.
• The United States Postal Service, the National Park
Service and the City of Atlanta field tested the
invention.
•
The Segway Human
Transporter
 Slingshot

Ensuring access to clean water is one of the



greatest challenges faced by under-developed

countries. Existing approaches to water purification
require expertise in system design, operation and
maintenance. We set out to design a simple system
that transforms any source water into safe drinking
water.
 Slingshot
• A vapor-compression water distiller that can turn even
sludge into drinkable water
• Aims to improve living standards in developing countries
• Runs on any kind of fuel including wood, grass and dung!
• Can make upto ten gallons of drinking water an hour.
• Kamen's hope is that Coke might deploy the Slingshot
alongside the various bottles and cans of the drinks it
distributes around the world daily. He's also in initial
talks with global pharmaceutical companies.
 “Luke” Arm

• A project sponsored by the Defense Advanced Research

Projects Agency and the U.S. Army Research Office

• Named after Luke Skywalker

• An Employee at DEKA describing Kamen’s
Marketing Approach
•
 Negatives

• Pays less……….very less compared to the

industry
• Too much interference into employees’ work at
times
• Trouble meeting promised deadlines
 Awards and
Recognition
• 1995: the Hoover Medal
• 1998: Heinz Award
• 2000: National Medal of Technology
• 2002: Lemelson-MIT Prize
• 2005: Inducted into the National Inventors Hall of
Fame
• 2006: United Nations Association of the USA
Global Humanitarian Action Award
• He remains enthusiastic about solving the world's
biggest challenges: education, clean water,
energy, and transportation. Only now he seems
to understand that change takes time -- and a
group effort.
•