That is mostly because everyone comes to see that though! But it is true that we could get a ton of people in there for the finals for a couple of hours!
You might have a chance at getting people in for Einstein finals if you can keep the award ceremony stuff from dragging the energy down. For those that haven’t been there, the award ceremony is when all the speaking and FIRST messages happen.
That stuff is very good for the students that are involved but would just irritate uninvolved people that came to see robots play. Of the 2 hour Einstein finale there is maybe 20 minutes of actual robot play.
That’s the link to last night’s episode. Fully awesome!!!
It starts after the third white increment and timestamp 16:06 if you don’t want to sit through the whole show and it’s extra long web commercials.
If anyone can make a real lightsaber…its gotta be Dean and DEKA
lol, I’m two hours late to posting the link. But yes, visit the link Isaac501 posted.
It is a Dean specialty 
Haha yeah. I thought that was perfect. Now it was actually publicized on television. 
Here’s the link to only the interview portion of the show:
for us Canadians, Colbertnation won’t play in Canada, use the comedy network link instead: http://www.thecomedynetwork.ca/shows/showdetails.aspx?sid=3351
Apparently this wasn’t his first time on the show
im watching it now =D S.C. is so funny
I really enjoyed the section of the show. Dean Kamen has once again come through with something truly incredible with this arm. I also gotta love the shout out to FIRST in there, but he didn’t talk about it as much as I thought he would. Great segment. Hopefully FRC and other FIRST events continue to gain exposure, so that soon enough I won’t have to be explaining to most people who ask that we don’t build “Battle Bots” 
I am an engineer for Kaydon, a manufacturer of specialty “thin section” bearings. This morning I got a call from one of the engineers at DEKA. Apparently the Luke arm uses our bearings, and he wanted to spec out a modified version for the next generation of the arm. It is very gratifying to play even a small role in something as cool as this.
Many years ago I worked on some bearings for Dave Lavery’s “other car”.
What do you mean “don’t want to sit through the whole show”? The Colbert Report rocks!
That man could pick up a grape AND use chopsticks. Dean is amazing, denim and all! Also, he presented himself so well, this was a great outlet to spread the word about FIRST and robotics. Good Job Dean, and Colbert for that matter, high five!
It was an awesome interview. I have to say, CHOPSTICKS i was in aw. It was hilarious when Dean was talking and the arm twitches and he looked at the arm nervously. It reminded me a little bit of the guy from Spiderman with the robotics arms.
~DK
OK – time to ask the obligatory engineering question! How the heck was he controlling that thing???
He had a series of objects strung across his back (one would think battery and cRio ), but where are the fine motor control input devices? And for a double version of this arm, wow… How is the wearer to control that?
That, to me, was the neatest part of the interview! The “how the … is he doing this” part!
OK^2
After reviewing the tape again a few times, it is beautifully subtle. He has “something” in his real left hand. Reminds me of a ventriloquist a bit - the dummy/arm commands your attention, and his lips/fingers barely move while he talks/articulates the arm.
Beautiful.
But, I’m still wondering about control for a pair of these!
From an article I read somewhere recently (I think IEEE Spectrum magazine) the control system uses the wearer’s actual nerve impulses for control.
Amputees generally have “phantom limb syndrome”, where they can still “feel” their missing limb. Doctors find the nerve endings , connect to them electrically, and have the wearer move their “limb” - “bend at the elbow a little. Now a lot”, and so on. They map the electrical impulses they get from the nerves to arm functions…and the wearer controls the arm with the same thoughts/impulses as they used to with their real limb.
Makes me want to get into biomedical engineering. The problems in human interfacing, noise management and amplification are fascinating, the arm mechanicals themselves notwithstanding.
I had one class in Biomedical - it was interesting, but a 3-credit undergrad elective barely scratched the surface (and, it was 30 years ago…). Wish I had the finances to change careers. (Maybe in my spare time in the basement?)