Arms for Amputees: Must See Video of Dean Kamen’s Touching Speech

Thousands lose their arms every year to accidents, disease, and war. For centuries the best technology they were offered was a hook on a stick. Now Dean Kamen wants to give them much, much more. In his impassioned speech from  TEDMED he shows us the amazing story of people who have lost part of themselves but who now have hope on the horizon. You have to see this video! Kamen's research firm, Deka, has been working tirelessly to develop a prosthetic arm for DARPA, affectionately dubbed the Luke Arm after the Star Wars character. The progress he and his team have made - clinical trials and five active participants starting just 15 months after inception - is incredible. Yet it is the amputees, the ultimate recipients of his work, that have grabbed Kamen's admiration and dedication. Listen to him explain why in the video below.

There's no doubt that Dean Kamen is a rock star of technology. He has 440+ patents, he invented the Segway, and is the founder of FIRST. Still, I was surprised to hear about the confidence DARPA had in his abilities. They wanted a hand that could pick up a grape or raisin (3:23 in the video) that weighed less than 9 lbs, and was completely self contained. And they wanted in less than 2 years (5:40)! Kamen gave them a working prototype in one. You can see the Luke Arm in action starting at 8:15, with the grape test at 9:05. The focus of the talk, however, were the experiences Kamen shared with veterans at Walter Reed (10:00) and other locations, including a quadruple amputee (13:38), and a crowd of 3500 soldiers and family members (15:20).