SXSWORLD

Dean Kamen: Reknowned Innovator Bringing the Future to the Present by Patrick Nichols I magine a world in which children can name their favorite scien- tists just as readily as their favorite athletes or pop idols. A fanciful dream, perhaps, but Dean Kamen aims to make it a reality within our lifetimes. In 1989, Kamen founded FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) to give children hands-on experience in a competitive arena that rewards logic, ingenuity, and teamwork over athleticism. To date, more than one million competitors have partici- pated in FIRST events around the world. Th e premier event is the U.S. FIRST Robotics Competition, which draws competitors ages 14 to 18. Teams of 25 or more spend six weeks working with professional engineer mentors to build robots that can complete assigned tasks, revolving this year around the basketball theme "Rebound Rumble." Regional events pit teams against one another, with win- ners advancing through ascending levels of competition. Th e largest event is FIRST LEGO League, expected this year to draw nearly 200,000 competitors ages 9 to 14 (extending to 16 outside North America) in more than 50 countries. Teams of up to 10 use LEGO MINDSTORMS kits to program autonomous robots that tackle an annual challenge, currently the food safety theme "Food Factor." Events reward both innovative research projects as well as head- to-head competitive missions. Overall, the 2011-2012 FIRST robotics heroes, the season-ending FIRST Championship certainly is designed to help bridge that gap among today's youths. It is held each April at the Edward Jones Dome, home of the NFL's St. Louis Rams. Th e Black Eyed Peas provided musical entertainment at last year's event. And winning teams just might receive an invitation to visit the White House. programs will reach more than 293,000 children, require the help of 51,000 adult mentors and another 50,000 volunteers, and award nearly $14 million in college scholarships. Th ough scientists may not yet rival pop culture fi gures as iconic Dean Kamen While FIRST may be an impassioned endeavor for Kamen, it is hardly his major claim to fame. Transporter launch in late 2001. Th ough shrouded in secrecy during its development, the project variously code named "IT" and "Ginger" was greeted with great fanfare due in part to purported advance praise from Steve Jobs ("as big a deal as the PC") among others. Th e Segway was unveiled live on ABC's Good Morning America, with Kamen adding countless media impressions in the days and weeks that followed. Kamen burst into the public consciousness with the Segway Personal sphere, but it was preceded by more than 30 years of consistently high achievement. A Long Island native, Kamen was a highly sought-after talent in high school. With projects ranging from sound-sensitive lighting to automation of the Times Square ball that drops each New Year's Eve, he reportedly out-earned his parents by his senior year. Reacting to comments by his doctor-in-training brother, Kamen Th e Segway may have launched Kamen into the scientifi c strato- invented a drug infusion pump and, in 1976, founded his fi rst com- pany, AutoSyringe. He would sell that company to the Baxter healthcare conglomerate within just a few years. With his new DEKA Research and Drug Administration last year decided to fast-track review and possible approval of "truly pioneering technologies." Among other distinctions, Kamen has been awarded the National Medal of Technology by President Bill Clinton in 2000, inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2005, and bestowed the Benjamin Franklin Medal in Mechanical Engineering in 2011. Will Kamen or another contemporary scientist achieve instant name recognition among school-age children? He certainly is among our most decorated technologists, and autograph-seeking lines reportedly have been growing longer at every FIRST competition. ■ Dean Kamen's SXSW appearances are sponsored by the IEEE Standards Associa- tion. He will take part in two events on Monday, March 12: his presentation, "Invention & Inspiration: Building a Better World," 11 am to 12 pm in Exhibit Hall 5; and the IEEE/FIRST Robotics "Beer & Bots" reception, 3 to 4 pm in the Exhibit Hall 3-4 Meet Up Pavilion. Skywalker) is the fi rst post-Segway project to near that high-water mark of public recogni- tion. Showcased on Comedy Central's Th e Colbert Report in 2010, the fully mechanized prosthesis is rumored to be why the Food and Development fi rm, Kamen developed med- ical devices ranging from a portable dialysis machine to the all-terrain iBOT motorized wheelchair (which provided inspiration for the Segway). Th roughout his career, Kamen has lever- aged the DEKA fl eet of engineers to fulfi ll high-revenue contracts that help fund his more creative, and potentially revolu- tionary, undertakings. One project involves re-engineering the 19th century Stirling engine to generate power effi ciently while running off virtually any combustible fuel source (including, in some tests, cow dung). A tandem project, Sidekick, is designed to generate 1,000 liters of drinkable water per day from unfi l- tered or even contaminated liquids. Th e "Luke" robotic arm (named after Luke 30 SXSW ORLD / M ARCH F ILM- I A 2012

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