A TEDTalk Tuesday Two-fer: Prosthetic Limbs and Constructed Creatures

[Occulus]

Once again, it's time for another TEDTALKTUESDAY. Since the chosen talks this week are quite short, I've selected two. First, we'll take a look at a prosthetic arm being developed for soldiers who have suffered amputation of a limb or limbs during their service in Iraq and elsewhere. Following that, we get to see an interesting form of kinetic beach artwork that moves across the beach by harvesting the wind.

Enjoy!

DEANKAMEN

Talk title: New prosthetic arm for veterans (Video runtime: 5:21)



Dean Kamen on one of his inventions, the Segway PT.

Wikipedia bio

About this Talk

Inventor Dean Kamen previews the extraordinary prosthetic arm he's developing at the request of the Department of Defense, to help the 1,600 "kids" who've come back from Iraq without an arm (and the two dozen who've lost both arms). Kamen's commitment to using technology to solve problems, and his respect for the human spirit, have never been more clear than in this deeply moving clip.

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THEOJANSEN

Talk title: The art of creating creatures (Video runtime: 8:25)



One of Theo Jansen's "beach beasts", exhibited on the Linz city square during the Ars Electronica 2005

Wiki bio

About this Talk

Dutch artist Theo Jansen demonstrates his amazingly lifelike kinetic sculptures, built from plastic tubes and lemonade bottles. His "Strandbeests" (Beach Creatures) are built to move and even survive on their own.

ed.: subject line

[Occulus]

1. .

Kicking because GD is busy today...

[Occulus]

2. .

A second kick so the afternoon crowd can see these.

Consider the second talk a "pressure valve" of sorts.

[Lorien]

3. Kickity kick. Hey, where are the intellectually curious on DU?

TED Talks are one of the best things going on the web. If you don't find the top two topics of interest, then check out the site anyway. If you have the slightest shred of intellectual curiosity and even only a slightly above average IQ, you can't HELP but find a Talk to love on TED talks!

[Occulus]

4. I have a choice between two for next week.

I'm torn- I have yet to see a bad TEDTalk. There are so many good ones to choose from...

Ooops, make it three talks. And all three would promote discussion...

Speaking of which....


Why do the Mars rovers use wheels? Why am I envisioning planetary exploration robots that walk, the way these things do in the second talk? It would seem to me, on the rough, rugged terrain of Mars, feet- rather than wheels- would be a much better choice.

A robot using metal legs, using a design similar (if further evolved) to the design of the 'creatures' in the second talk, seems to me to be much better able to deal with the sorts of obstacles one would find on Mars. Such a robot would be able to explore a good deal of terrain, and- if powered by the wind, like we see in the second talk- should be able to last a good long time.

The "brain" he presents is ridiculously simple, but it works for the intended purpose. I can't imagine it would be too terribly difficult to design an exploration robot with similar autonomous capabilities. It would have to be a Transformer(tm) for the trip from Earth to Mars, though. I don't know how it might be designed so that it can survive the landing... nonetheless, I think this design could be used instead of wheels on rovers like the ones we have on Mars. It would be interesting to see how well it worked, in any case.

[Occulus]

5. I'll give this one last kick

So people getting home from work can also see these talks.

[Lorien]

6. Here are my suggestions (my favorites of the ones I've viewed this week):

Sir Ken Robinson: Do schools kill creativity?

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/66

Bob Thurman: Becoming Buddha -- on the Web

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/130

James Howard Kunstler: The tragedy of suburbia

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/121

[Occulus]

7. Why, thank you!

I'm always appreciative of suggestions.

I'll watch all three through this week; the Thurman talk (which I've already viewed) is a definite candidate for the spotlight.

There are so many.

[Lorien]

8. You're welcome! Robinson is freaking hilarious

his sense of humor reminds me a bit of Eddie Izzard. What he says is quite true, too; our educational system only grooms people for CERTAIN types of jobs-the ones that the general public believes will bring in the best salaries. Funny thing is, as a professional animator and illustrator during the Clinton years I was making a nice six figure salary-quite a bit more than my friends who primarily utilized their math and English skills in their given profession *not to say that they don't have perfectly respectable and enjoyable jobs-but there are other alternatives out there for the highly creative among us).