hi all

At 22:38 1999/07/13 EDT, bonnie wrote:
>
> A revolutionary new wheelchair
>
>Correspondent John Hockenberry reports on a revolutionary new
>wheelchair that's designed to really go places.
>
>A first look at a whole new world on wheels. Watch the video of
>the report.
>
>NBCNews
>
>June 30 - We have the know-how to fly to the moon, but most people
>who can't walk still get around with what's essentially 200-year-old
>technology - the wheelchair. One inventor has decided it's time to
>get wheelchair riders rolling into the 21st century. He says his
>machine can take you just about anywhere you want to go. He's been
>keeping his top secret invention under wraps - until now.
>
>WHEELCHAIRS CAN GET you around, but they don't get close enough to
>the places disabled people might like to go. You've heard the expression
>confined to a wheelchair? Well actually, if you think about it, it's the
>heelchairs that are confined to the relatively few smooth, easy-rolling
>places in the world. But what if somebody came up with a device that,
>as they say, could go where no wheelchairs have gone before?
>
>It would take someone on a mission. Someone with the money and genius
>and time to put into the project. It would take someone like Dean Kamen.
>Dean Kamen's new invention can take wheelchair riders to new heights.
>
>He's one of this nation's most prestigious inventors. He's a sort of
>Thomas Edison in the medical world. Among Kamen's inventions is a
>portable kidney dialysis machine. His early ideas made him millions, but
>money is not what drives Dean Kamen.
>
>"I don't work on a project unless I believe that it will dramatically
>improve life for a bunch of people", says Kamen.
>
>Nine years ago Kamen wanted to improve the life of a young man he
>happened to see struggling to get his wheelchair up a curb.
>
>"I just fixated on how unreasonable that condition really is", he says.
>"And it just seemed to me that the fundamental issue was the world has
>not been architected for people that are sitting down at 39 inches.
>
>Kamen thought about this old problem in a revolutionary new way. What
>if instead of getting a chair that could go upstairs, you could make a
>machine that could stand up and balance the way humans do?
>
>More about the Independence 3000
>
>For details call the Hotline at 1-888-IND-3000 or visit their Web site.
>
>"Your mother remembers your first steps. It's a big deal that humans
>walk erect", says Kamen. "It's difficult to do. But once we've learned to
>do it, we're capable of dealing with curbs And a world with stairs."
>
>Kamen and his engineers came up with a two-wheeled balancing prototype
>that worked and became a top-secret patented invention crammed full of
>sophisticated gyroscopes, electric motors and computers. Kamen allowed
>"Dateline" an exclusive peek at it. To our surprise, Kamen's machine was
>actually more compact and narrower than a traditional wheelchair.
>
>WHAT IS THIS EXTRAORDINARY MACHINE CAPABLE OF DOING?
>
>It can climb stairs, roll through sand, and can even raise its height
>to reach the top of shelves. What's exciting about this device is not
>the technology, it's the choices - that you could go from point A to
>point B anyway you want. And this isn't some exotic experiment on a
>device that no one is ever going to see. The builders of this machine
>intend that it's going to be used out in the world - and soon.
>
>In order to bring his invention to the mass market, Kamen needed the
>help of a company with considerable resources. So he got in touch with
>the Johnson and Johnson corporation. How long before this could actually
>be seen on the market?
>
>"We think within 18 to 24 months", says Dr. Robert Gussin, the company's
>vice president of technology. "It's got to go through a rigorous FDA
>clearance procedure."
>
>Since a wheelchair is a medical device, it has to be tested by the
>Food and Drug Administration. It's more like a drug than like a bicycle or
>a lawnmower. With the idea that virtually any failure could be catastrophic,
>Kamen's engineers have rocked, rolled, bounced, drowned, and pounded their
>new machine.
>
>Can Dean Kamen's new device change the world? Nobody knows until the
>FDA approves it for use outside of the lab and beyond the inventor's own
>property. But one thing is certain, the emotional impact can already be
>felt.
>
>Brace yourself for the price: Dean Kamen's invention will cost about
>$20,000 when it becomes available to the public. But because it could spare
>the expense of customizing homes with ramps and wider doorways, and
>mechanical lifts in cars, the money spent could be offset in money saved.

i caught the tail-end of an interview with dean kamen
on cbc radio last night.

he said the 'eureka' idea came to him one day
after stepping out of the shower - he almost slipped and fell - but didn't.
he thought about the lengths that the human body would go to,
[arms flailing all over the place]
to keep one's balance.
balance was the key.


janet

janet paterson
52 now / 41 dx / 37 onset
snail-mail: PO Box 171  Almonte  Ontario  K0A 1A0  Canada
website: a new voice <http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Village/6263/>
e-mail: <[log in to unmask]>