Posts Tagged: "dean kamen"

A Conversation with a Remarkable Man

This is not about intellectual property or tech transfer. Rather this chance meeting brought to mind Ernest Hemingway’s saying: “Grace under pressure is the measure of a man.” If you agree with Hemingway then perhaps the story a cab driver told me during our 30 minute ride will be of interest… As we pulled into the airport he said: “My friend, learn to face your problems with calmness and dignity. Never compromise your principles. Take the cards you have been dealt and play them as wisely as you can.” I shook his hand and left with a lot to think about. Perhaps the next time we confront unfair attacks, either personal, professional or political his words will resonate.

Senate Republicans discuss patent reform in private briefing with infringer lobby

The Senate Republican High-Tech Task Force convened in order to hear from patent experts on the impact of the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in TC Heartland, the IPR process and patent eligibility, and to discuss what Congress can do in terms of additional patent reform in order to improve the U.S. patent system… The Hatch op-ed would seem to be music to the ears of beleaguered patent owners in the life science and computer implemented innovation areas. The problem, however, is with those the Senate Republican High-Tech Task Force heard from during this private meeting.

Artificial skin and medical bionics are restoring the sense of touch

It appears that we’re on the way towards the creation of an artificial skin product for bionic prostheses that would be able to restore the sense of touch in a person who has lost an appendage. An electronic skin developed by researchers working at Stanford University is capable of transmitting pressure changes through nerve cells, triggering a response from the brain that the artificial skin is in contact with something or someone. The research project, funded by the U.S. Department of Defense and led by head researcher Zhenan Bao, has developed a new type of pressure sensor made from a thin, flexible material that can be laid over existing prostheses.

The future of bionic arm tech is mind-controlled, cheap to produce

The first decade of the 21st century saw some major advances in bionic arm technologies. The first half of that decade saw a team of researchers working together at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago’s Center for Bionic Medicine crafted a bionic arm for Jesse Sullivan, a high-power electrical lineman who lost both of his arms in May 2001 as the result of electrocution. The bionic arm is myoelectric, meaning that it is capable of detecting electrical signals generated by the muscles of the human body. To increase the control signals that can be detected from the body, doctors at RIC’s Neural Engineering Center for Artificial Limbs performed a series of nerve-muscle grafts to move nerves which used to travel to the arms into the chest muscles. By increasing the number of control signals that can be read from the patient’s nerves, doctors were able to outfit Sullivan with a working bionic arm that could be controlled naturally from his nerve impulses.

Innovation Act delayed in House amid bipartisan bicameral disapproval

Members of both major American political parties from both the Senate and the House of Representatives came together at a press conference held on the afternoon of Tuesday, July 14th, to oppose the most recent round of proposed patent reform bills in either chamber of Congress. Meanwhile, rumors are swirling that suggest that the Innovation Act (H.R. 9) has been tabled for the rest of the summer in the House of Representatives.