I remember when the Segway was introduced. It was supposed to revolutionize commuting by getting people out of their cars.

Segways are used in a variety of settings, but not in what you would call general use, which isn’t surprising considering new ones cost anywhere from $6,000 to as high as $13,000.

But Dean Kamen, Segway’s inventor, is about a lot more than pricey personal transport.

His latest idea, that just got FDA approval, is another gold star on his “good for humanity” list.

The DEKA limb can provide “near natural upper-arm extremity control” to amputees and the device is modular so that it can be fitted to people who’ve suffered any degree of limb loss, from an entire arm to a hand, Sanchez said. Six “grip patterns” allow wearers to drink a cup of water, hold a cordless drill or pick up a credit card or a grape, among other functions.

The prosthetic looks amazing and could be an enormous boon to soldiers who lost limbs in the wars with Iraq and Afghanistan and thousands of other amputees.

DEKA is looking for a manufacturer.

Kamen is an impressive guy, more inventor than entrepreneur.

“Most people, once they get good at something, they make iterations and make a career out of that. (Think Bezos, Ellison, Gates, Jobs) We’re good at trying to try some crazy idea that probably won’t work.”

But look at the ones that do.

• the first portable drug delivery device for providing drugs that previously required round-the-clock hospital care.
• a portable dialysis machine
• an insulin pump for diabetics
• a vascular stent
• the iBOT — a motorized wheelchair that climbs stairs
• a prosthetic arm for maimed soldiers
• and a portable energy and water purification device, called Slingshot (amazing story) for the developing world.

It’s unlikely that Kamen will ever join the billionaires club, but he will die richer than any of them.

And guess who will be remembered the longest?

He is proof that one (stubborn) person can truly make a difference and change millions of lives.

Flickr image credit: jason gessner

Have you noticed that many of the hot startups from young founders are relatively shallow—focused on sharing pictures and facilitating casual hookups.

Facebook was originally a way for college students to connect with each other campus by campus and Twitter was more a digital gossip line than a vehicle for the likes of Arab Spring.

There’s a simple reason for that—people tend to create solutions for the problems they find in their own lives.

It’s not so much how old you are but your experiences and how you see the world that makes for great entrepreneurs—but more are older than younger.

“The average age of a successful entrepreneur in high-growth industries such as computers, health care, and aerospace is 40. Twice as many successful entrepreneurs are over 50 as under 25. The vast majority — 75 percent — have more than six years of industry experience and half have more than 10 years when they create their startup,” says Duke University scholar Vivek Wadhwa, who studied 549 successful technology ventures. Meanwhile, data from the Kauffman Foundation indicates the highest rate of entrepreneurship in America has shifted to the 55-64 age group, with people over 55 almost twice as likely to found successful companies than those between 20 and 34.

These are the people who often tackle enterprise and healthcare challenges, because they have been stymied with them in their own work.

Additionally, the larger the worldview the greater the level of empathy leading to substantially more compassion and a stronger desire to “fix it.”

A good example of this is found in Project Daniel.

Project Daniel started in 2012, when Mick Ebeling read a story in Time magazine about Daniel Omar, a then 14-year-old Sudanese boy who lost both his hands from a bomb. It inspired Ebeling to assemble a team capable of creating a low-cost, 3D-printed prosthetic on consumer-grade 3D printers.

Ebeling is the founder of Not Impossible, a company dedicated to “technology for the sake of humanity” which also developed the Eyewriter.

Now you, too, can volunteer with a team, expand your worldview and help change lives, as well as expand your network and have great bragging rights.

YouTube credit: Not Impossible Labs