From Segways To Robotic Arms

Dean Kamen, well-known for inventing the Segway, visits Stephen Colbert on The Colbert Report to show off the LUKE arm (yes, its named after Luke Skywalker and his unfortunate incident with Darth Vader). The robotic appendage was commissioned by the Department of Defense and DARPA, with the goal of accomplishing a simple mission: to provide amputees with the accuracy and touch sensitivity to pick up something as small as a raisin, or as fragile as a grape.

And while the Segway never really caught on, the LUKE arm is finding success among wounded veterans: one double-amputee was able to feed himself for the first time in 19 years. He's moved on to chopsticks now, and by the looks of it, he's probably better at it than most of us.

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