Dean Kamen's Trailblazing Innovation at the Intersection of Medicine and Engineering
Three Decades, Three Missions
At the 2025 NextMed Health conference, Dean Kamen delivered a sweeping and deeply personal talk structured around three transformative initiatives: DEKA Research & Development, the Advanced Regenerative Manufacturing Institute (ARMI), and FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology). In a fast-paced, high-impact presentation, Kamen made the case that while technology is racing ahead, the future depends not just on innovation, but on how we teach the next generation to wield that power responsibly.
Robert Mowry of Del Mar Medical Devices, reflected on the keynote: “Dean’s presentation was more than inspiring—it laid out a clear blueprint for how engineering should improve lives. I left even more driven to advance human-centered medical innovation.”
DEKA: Inventing the Future of Healthcare Delivery
Dean Kamen's engineering firm DEKA has quietly driven some of the most significant innovations in medical technology over the last four decades. With over 7,000 patents and a team of 1,000 engineers, DEKA builds devices that improve lives, often behind the scenes under the names of major corporations.
One of DEKA's signature inventions is the iBOT mobility system. A third-generation, FDA-approved, stair-climbing mobility device, the iBOT offers independence and dignity to people with disabilities. After a 15-year struggle, Medicare finally recognized the iBOT as a new class of medical equipment, underscoring its unique contribution to patient autonomy.
Another major breakthrough is DEKA's wearable insulin pump, which uses solid-state technology and acoustic sensing to outperform traditional mechanical pumps. Unlike older devices that lag in response to continuous glucose monitors, DEKA's new system adjusts insulin delivery in real time. The result? Up to 22x faster occlusion detection and a step forward in managing diabetes with precision.
Kamen also introduced a gravity-driven IV system that eliminates the dangers associated with powered infusion pumps, which have historically been the most error-prone equipment in hospitals. Using high-speed cameras and AI, DEKA built a device that accurately measures and controls fluid flow with zero pressure—a radical redesign focused on patient safety and nurse usability.
Robert Mowry remarked, "The gravity-driven IV system is a deceptively simple but revolutionary change. It’s an example of how solving a basic engineering problem can save lives in a hospital setting."
DEKA's innovations extend to dialysis, with over 400,000 portable peritoneal dialysis machines shipped worldwide through its partner Baxter. And now, the firm has unveiled a smart home hemodialysis machine, which recently completed 8,000 FDA-supervised therapies with zero adverse outcomes. Capable of creating pharmaceutical-grade water from tap water, this compact system empowers patients to conduct life-saving treatments safely at home.
Recognizing global supply chain fragility, DEKA developed a vending-machine-style IV bag generator to manufacture sterile fluid bags onsite, a solution inspired by hurricanes and outages that disrupted the U.S. supply chain. The machine uses built-in AI and optical quality control, and is poised to eliminate the bottlenecks caused by centralized bag production.
Lastly, DEKA tackled vaccine hesitancy and needle phobia with a band-aid-like intradermal patch using semiconductor-grade microneedles. The device delivers vaccines painlessly and uses just 1/10th the normal dose, while targeting skin layers rich in dendritic cells to improve efficacy. Self-administered, cheap, and portable, the patch could revolutionize global vaccine distribution.
ARMI: Regenerating the Human Body
DEKA's spirit of innovation extends into regenerative medicine through the Advanced Regenerative Manufacturing Institute (ARMI), originally funded by the Department of Defense. With over $180 million in federal support, ARMI is building the technology stack to manufacture tissues and organs at scale.
One focus is pancreatic islet cell production for diabetes treatment. In under a year, ARMI scaled from producing thousands of cells in petri dishes to over hundreds of billions per day in automated systems. Their goal: to one day reach a trillion islets per day, making regenerative therapies accessible and consistent.
ARMI also showcased a retinal patch manufacturing system, designed to produce and implant new retinal cells for patients with macular degeneration. The machine uses autologous iPSCs and creates the transplant within a closed-loop system, ready for clinical deployment.
The institute’s work includes recellularizing whole organs—like kidneys—using smart pods that simulate body conditions to keep organs viable for extended periods. In clinical tests, these pods preserved kidneys for three days—ten times longer than traditional preservation methods—with improved viability.
FIRST: Building the Next Generation of Problem Solvers
If DEKA and ARMI represent Kamen's contribution to solving today's problems, FIRST represents his investment in solving tomorrow's. Founded over 30 years ago, FIRST brings robotics competitions to 82,000 schools across 200 countries, inspiring millions of kids to embrace STEM.
But as Kamen emphasized, "FIRST isn't about robots. It's about building the people who will change the world." Through competition, mentorship, and hands-on experience, FIRST teaches collaboration, critical thinking, and perseverance.
With $80 million in scholarships, 200,000 mentors, and a global championship drawing over 50,000 participants, FIRST is among the most cost-effective educational movements in the world. Its impact stretches beyond borders with FIRST Global, which invites one team from each of 196 countries to compete—Olympic-style—in international collaboration.
FIRST Global has added two philosophical frameworks to its program: the Bill of Responsibilities and the Declaration of Interdependence. Every participant agrees to uphold values like truth, fairness, and respect—recognizing that in a globalized world, challenges like pandemics and climate change transcend national boundaries.
In 2023, the competition was hosted at the Olympic Stadium in Athens; in 2024, it moves to Panama, underscoring the unifying power of science and cooperation across cultures and continents.
Technology with Humanity at the Core
Throughout his talk, Kamen underscored a core belief: technology must be built with empathy, deployed with responsibility, and developed by people who understand its social implications. Whether he’s reinventing insulin pumps, democratizing dialysis, or rallying kids in 196 countries, the thread running through Kamen’s work is purpose.
Two closing quotes summed up his mission:
"The only difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." — Albert Einstein
"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good people to do nothing." — Attributed to Edmund Burke
Dean Kamen is doing something. He’s using engineering to address some of the biggest humanitarian challenges of our time, and he’s preparing a generation of kids to do the same.
A Call to Action
In a world torn between progress and polarization, Dean Kamen’s work offers a roadmap for both technological innovation and social cohesion. His keynote was not just a showcase of gadgets—it was a challenge to the medical and scientific community to support systems that foster talent, build equity, and bridge global divides.
From stair-climbing wheelchairs to microneedle patches, from automated organ manufacturing to kids designing robots in Kabul and Kansas, the thread is clear: we need responsible innovation, and we need to inspire the next generation to wield it wisely.
