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
wheelchairs 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?
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“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.
