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One father of invention, Dean Kamen, builds tech link with kids

More than a decade ago, renown inventor Dean Kamen began pondering why the richest nation on Earth hadn’t produced more engineers, why U.S. students seemed to shy away from science and technology.

By Monica Soto
Seattle Times technology reporter

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(If we don’t have one already, what can we do to host a FIRST event here? Russ )

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He approached the problem much in the same way he came up with inventions, from the portable dialysis machine to a robotic chair that climbs stairs. He stepped back and looked for a different approach, for the road less traveled, so to speak.

What Kamen saw was a country rich with technology and science, one where governments, large corporations and schools all threw resources at making these disciplines accessible to students.

"I thought, ‘It can’t be that,’ " Kamen said of a supply problem. "It’s a demand issue and a cultural issue."

In 1989, Kamen founded FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology), http://www.usfirst.org/ with the ambition that one day the act of invention would become as revered in pop culture as entertainment and sports.

Kamen himself received international attention last year after unveiling his latest invention, the Segway Human Transporter, a battery-powered, two-wheeled scooter whose movements are guided by the rider’s natural motions.

"I sat back and started trying to understand how culture works," said Kamen, who traveled to Seattle on Sunday to speak with the Microsoft Alumni Network about supporting his endeavors. "What motivates kids to be passionate about sports? You don’t show them other kids playing T-ball."

Kamen and Woodie Flowers, the Pappalardo professor of mechanical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, created the FIRST Robotics Competition. The second annual regional competition for high-school students is set for 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday at the University of Washington’s Edmundson Pavilion.

The idea of the competition is to have teams of students and their mentors solve a complex problem in six weeks, using a standard "kit of parts" and set of rules. The teams build robots and test the solution to the problem in a series of competitions.

Kevin Reed, chair of FIRST’s Pacific Northwest regional planning committee, said he was asked to help judge the region’s first event last year and expected the basic science fair-like routine.

"It’s like watching a basketball game," he said. "There are stands full of screaming people. There are robots and bright lights and an emcee. It truly is a complete and total sporting event."

The organization now holds regional competitions across the country that culminate with a national championship event. Last year, more than 20,000 people participated in that event at Walt Disney World’s Epcot.

Kamen said the group has outgrown the space and will hold this year’s championship event next week in Reliant Park in Houston.

"It will be the largest love-fest of technology you will ever see," Kamen said. "I think we’ve proven that if you give kids an opportunity to do something, you can substantially change their perspective about what this world has to offer."

Bruce Hevly, who teaches the history of science and technology at the University of Washington, said engineers haven’t seen broad recognition since the period between the 1880s and 1940, when the work was considered the stuff of adventure.

America had engineering heroes such as Thomas Edison, who became a household name; and Charles Kettering, who invented the battery-powered electric starter for automobiles.

"We think of Tom Swift now as kind of a joke," Hevly said, "but the original Tom Swift was an example of a broad genre in which the new technology was associated with adventure and autonomy on the part of kids, especially boys."

While Hevly said engineers have not seen such recognition since, he doesn’t discount a repeat. "I think that’s happened before and it could happen again," he said.

Kamen may be at the forefront. His Segway drew a lot of attention, and in March became available for sale only on Amazon.com for $4,950 apiece. He also developed the heart stent worn by Vice President Dick Cheney.

Kamen said he developed the Segway because traveling short distances is the only problem transportation technology hadn’t solved.

"One of Einstein’s neat statements was, ‘The most incomprehensible thing about the world is that it is comprehensible,’ " he said. "But you have to work hard to figure it out."

Monica Soto: 206-515-5632 or [email protected]

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/134666196_deankamen01.html

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