@CajunGuy: Well, if you think Edison invented the lightbulb or motion pictures, you're mistaken. And the phonograph was based on previously existing technology.

See? Edison was just another Kamen..

ideaman2020

Alright, so a guy builds a machine that has the potential to save millions of lives, and some of the commenters above are upset because they were surplus people anyway and now we have to feed them?

Somehow this isn't a worthwhile invention or a worthwhile cause if it fixes the clean water problem but doesn't fix the hunger problem too?

It's like saying a cure for AIDS is worthless if people are still going to die of cancer anyway. It's flawed logic, and just shows you're an asshole.

dwarf74

@Michai: That is most certainly not his civic duty.

Admiral Ackbar

The man is an inventor, and he honestly tries to build products that are helpful to people and not just some gimmick. While a lot of people scoff at segways, he had a vision of people using them in place of cars for short trips around town. Unfortunately the low pricepoint he was aiming for never materialized.

Xavoc

Yeah, but what are we going to do with the extra tens of millions of people who won't be dying from disease or dehydration? Does he have a box that turns shit and garbage into sandwiches?

inkswitch

@darrinjc: Most organic compounds are not water soluble, therefore they will form a different layer when present in quantities of water. Specifically Benzene is nonpolar so it is not soluble in water.

zipadax

Great job Dean, more power to you. Dont forget your civic duty to make it affordable for everyone.

Michai

@BoinK: @nutbastard:
yeah, this was my concern as well. Ok, we've got all of these people in the world that can now drink clean water. Awesome. They won't die of thirst. Are there going to be larger versions to make water for irrigation out of sludge and sewage? Are each one of these villages going to receive two enormous containers - one for clean water and the other for collection of the hell-waste?

Can this be solar powered? If not, would this require gridjuice or would a portable generator be sufficient? Could this be pedal powered?

s0crates82

@CajunGuy: Why are you guys hung up on whether or not this is new. He just developed the technology over 5 years into this usable form. He is trying to save lives (and make money). Give him a break.

stonefry

Well, I could just live forever too.

But I shure hope Kamen produces on of those for everyone who needs it... for free of course.

Bokusatsu_Tenshi

I am in for a Buy 1 Give 1 if this comes to market...

joe.kelley

@CajunGuy: Given Kamen's previous interest in Sterling engines, and the way they work on differences in temperature, I'd guess there's one in there somewhere.

I mean there isn't any way to get something for nothing, but maybe he's got it helping out somehow.

brave_otaku

If the water contains volatils organic compounds (gasoline, benzene, TCE), this machine will not "clean it". there is nothing magical here: Its a distiller and a condenser. If a compound in the water will boil at a temperature lower than water, it will be in the water that you drink. Low energy use, sure, great. However, its not gonna solve the problem of contaminated water. Even the ammonium in the urine will be, to some extent, in the water you drink.

darrinjc

I love it when people do/invent things that benefit so much of humanity. As recent studies suggest, the world's water supply is diminishing rapidly and water like food, will be available to the highest bidder. Since this thing can apparently put out 1,000 litres a day,it has great potential, but needs power to function. I hope they explore means of supplying power (ie. wind/solar power; hell even a pygmy on a bycyle generator to make this thing work in distraught places).
The downside is the political/philanthropic will to make it happen. So much of the world's problems are a result of greed and mismanagement. On this basis there is not much basis for optimism despite the good intentions/possibilities we have seen in the past.

dashriprock

@jonny: I asked basically the same question a few screens up, but it seems nobody noticed. This man isn't Edison, folks; he didn't invent anything new.

CajunGuy

@Ounce: Just noticed that. Quite surprised, actually, since almost everyone here is probably a hardcore geek of some sort. I'm ashamed I didn't think of it myself.

WE ALL FAIL.

JustThisGuy

What is new about this?

jonny

No one has made a Dune reference yet?

Ounce

@hammertime94: It's real, duh.

se7a7n7

I'll be interested when we can turn water into beer.

cygnusx8

@mfaerber: Agree. He has spent many millions through his foundation to stamp out malaria. The trade off would be to slap a M$ logo and somehow incorporate the Red Ring of Death.

misterwho

well it will def need power. time to put all those potato clocks to work.
the amount of energy needed to convert water from liquid to steam form will require a decent supply of energy. one common form is heat from fire.
also if it is a compressor then it needs more power for that.

so now we need to drop off a generator to that village, including a supply of fuel (it will be a bio-diesel generator), a crew to train people on how to use it, hope it doesn't break, and a way to dispose of whatever waste it leaves behind.

i like his part about arsenic from indian wells, does that mean we will have the renewable supply of arsenic that we've been waiting for?

tegronin

@BoinK:
people can't farm if they're sick.

nutbastard

Does the filtered water meet any first world drinking standard?

Aleung

Oh, and: Why didn't someone invent this before now?

ideaman2020

Wow. Just wow. This is up there with the invention of sanitation and antibiotics. Kamen could be responsible for saving a billion lives.

Good for him, he deserves all the credit and respect in the world.

mullingitover

@IphtashuFitz: According to the interview, no chemicals & no filters. RTFA, man.

My question is.... How?

ideaman2020

My friend wants to know if this will filter blood into drinkable water.

awesomerobot

How does this one work differently than other vapor compression distillers? 'Cause if he's trying to make us believe that he invented the technology (I don't have audio on this PC, so I don't know what he's saying), he's full of himself. Just google "Vapor Compression Distiller" and you'll see what I mean.

CajunGuy

I'm gonna sound like a real fucking asshole now. They already have trouble putting food in peoples mouths. Now we'll have even bigger populations in 3rd world countries going hungry. Solving one problem just brings on another.

BoinK

or not

hammertime94

The only thing I hate about Giz is that sometimes it is impossible to tell fact from farce. (I'm guessing that since this was on Colbert its the latter.)

hammertime94

@snakepliskin: HELLZ yea. Thats the only thing that really scares the crap out of me.

Simpsons-Movie-ruled

And one single clip from a goddamn comedy show has restored a bit of my faith in humanity.

This is fucking beautiful. Kudos, Mr. Kamen.

JustThisGuy

RE: IphtashuFitz at 02:11 PM

In regards to your #1 and #2 questions, he answered them in the full interview.

It does not require any replacements (filters, etc.). It can clean 1000 liters of water per day.

mfaerber

I wonder how much they cost to manufacture. Id like to put one in my truck just in case of a zombie outbreak. Always got to be prepared for the zombies.

snakepliskin

@Claystil Every time I hear Bono's name, I think of the bit on South Park where he's just running through destitute African villages just pointing at people and going "Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah!!!"

The world is a much, much better place because of that. Lemme tell ya. =P

michaelportent

@GoatMonkey: Let's assume DangerousDac isn't a moron. He was probably talking about about using it in the ship to recycle water.

@DangerousDac: This device might need gravity to work. Then again, there's always centrifugal force when you need it. I'm not sure how they currently filter the water on the ISS, could be something like this already.

el_gordo

@DangerousDac: Uh...you kind of have to start with liquid. Mars = No Liquid

GoatMonkey

Wow. That's really impressive. Here's to hoping it's cheap to mass-produce.

Way

Pretty Amazing achievement, couldnt NASA also utilize this for trips to mars?

DangerousDac

Wait...it turns cherry Kool-Aid into water? I'm in!

GoatMonkey

@godai: More questions:

1. What does it require in terms of expendables? Replacment filters? Other chemicals? A lot of electricity?

2. What's the rate at which one of these units generates water? Will one unit supply enough water for one person? A family of 4? A village of 50?

3. What sort of general purpose maintenance is required? Is it the sort of thing that an uneducated person can do or would it require somebody with a college degree to do properly?

IphtashuFitz

2 Questions:

1. Where does the non-water come out? Basically there's all that crap in the water, it has to come out somewhere? (Possibly the little jar in the bottom left of the front?)

2. Could this be weaponized into the thing from Tank Girl that the bad guy sticks in the minions neck?

godai

Watch the whole episode: [www.comedycentral.com]

It was a good one. It's really respectable how often Colbert has scientists on his show.

mfaerber

Someone forward this to Bill Gates.

mfaerber

in-freakin-sane.

I wonder what happens to the containments... do they stay in the machine to get disposed when it gets full, or do they get pumped out another hose? I can't wait to hear more about this.

lazerpenguin

@MIKEAWESOME: After. I was watching this last night, and it was hilarious. Colbert just kept going at each biologist or water specialist, criticizing their facts and methods.

JustEaton

If he can get this distributed on a widespread basis, then Dean Kamen and his cohorts deserve nothing less than a Nobel Peace Prize.

mcg1969

All they need now is to bring electricity to the villages. Next invention... electricity made from urin.

SirDrake

Honestly, this could be the greatest invention for the third world this decade.

Darrone

Was this before or after Colbert announced his production of AquaColbert?

MIKEAWESOME

Actually, as it was described in the whole interview, this device can make water from ANYTHING!! Seriously, you can put anything that in it and it will make water.

I was hoping they would say how much the thing is going to cost.

se7a7n7

god bless dean kamen

nutbastard

hmmm... can that purify blood?

Amiash

@Redwraithvienna:
Exactly. Also is actually good for you depending on your diabetic conditions unfiltered.

daftrok

Damn nice... Seriously...

This could be a big deal. Unlike that segway crap.

DustyButt

@Ghede: all they need is Bono.

Claystil

@Claystil: The guy is a multibillionaire, even after the flop of the segway, and I'm sure MANY charities will be interested.

Ghede

Well ... drinking water from urine is a lot easier then water from salt water/or normal not cleaned well water...

basically urine is very salty water with a few other ingredients but it is sterile.

Redwraithvienna

The presence of readily available potable water throughout the world would save tens of millions of lives in a short period of time, but someone has to finance production and distribution of these things. That brings me to the question of who the hell would donate to such a noble cause when OLPC is aruond?? Avoiding Malaria is far less important than computing.

Claystil

But will it blend?

Evil_Snow_Man

Turn it on, and let it run...
Lets CLEAN UP THE OCEAN...

There is a problem with this...
SMALL micro sized FISH, and other things that are GOOD FOR YOU...will DIE.
then screen out all the Minerals, WHICH we need out of the water, and EVEN the fish wont like it.

ECAsh

Do we really need inventions that help increase the number of humans on the planet?

Ralph48

@Aleung: It spits out *distilled* water. Pure H2O.

pkphy39

Neat. The device works similar to a Sterling Engine!

Patent here: [patft.uspto.gov]

DeadWriter

The guy is a genius. His first inventions built his empire, those being the first portable dialysis machine and several heart stents (one of which is in Dick Cheney).

I want a battle-a-modo Dean Kamen v.s. Sir James Dyson v.s. Bill Gates v.s. the Woz. Winner will take control of the Sharper Image.

DeadWriter

@ninjagin: but can segway work on dung?

monomyth

What about its application in concerns to the energy crisis? There have been many strides in the category of water based engines. Could this be at every gas station of the future? It's applications are endless!

DrChaos

Yeah but it has to use power. Can solar cells provide enough? Solar cells wear out.

FrankenPC

@zipadax: Not true. This is why air strippers (pasing air through water in a packed tower) are the primary means of groundwater remediation. I do it for a living. Benzene, in the example you give, has a solubility of 1,800,000 ug/l in water (at 25 degees C)and a drinking water standard of 5 ug/l. They only form a separate layer when the water is saturated to the solubility limit first, then the layer starts to form.

This machine will do great things for non-volatile compound removal (metals, salts, etc), but it's nothing new (except the low energy use) and you cannot just put it in "any liquid" and get drinkable water out. Volatile organics will pass through.

darrinjc

@cygnusx8: I've got a machine that does that. It's called "yeast", and all I have to do is give it some barley extract for fuel and it turns water into delicious beer.

ninjagin

A couple years ago, this got written up in forbes, alongside the 1KW power generator that Kamen invented which can be run off of burning cow dung (sterling engine, as I recall it). I think the thought is that the generator and purifier can be run together, or the purifier run off of waste heat from the generator. Honestly, he's partnered up with the guy who started the gremayne bank in Bangladesh, so I'd not brush this off so lightly. It doesn't matter where you are, this device would seem to have some value. However one might want to knock Kamen, he's got a lot of smarts and a very idealistic streak to his personality without being a Henry Ford style dictator. Between his wheelchair, the DARPA arm, the generator and this thing, I'd say he's okay by me.

ninjagin

And the best part is all the sludge and waste that it filters out of the water can be used to make handy dandy chemical weapons!

tikijack

Stick the intake hose into a vat of fermented tater mash and you've got yourself one heck of a moonshine still. Then you could drink some of it and use the remainder of the 1000 liters produced per day to power your E85 compatible SUV. This is sheer genius!

GiltProto

@Ralph48: I suppose it's okay if people start dying, so long as they're poor and live in countries without fresh water?

Or should we go through the great purge democratically and all draw lots?

dwarf74

Just outta curiosity, how does this work if it doesn't use filters/chemicals/magic? Does it boil the water or something?

Bob_of_Mars

Let me guess. This is going to totally change the world as we know it, right? Just like the Segway did, right? Will the other 50% at least get a Segway?

scotth0

Just what the third world needs; another way to have people live longer so that two bit dictators can rape, murder or just enslave them.

A part from that the process of vacuum distillation is old hat. Reverse osmosis is far more energy efficient.

ccweems

Nice.
Shrink it down into a suit, and I'll be ready to ride the sandworm..

ThanatosOmega

lol gotta love all the alcoholics on here with the "yeah but will it help me make/drink beer"

pevans34

@inkswitch: They're usually called "farms."

LenPict

After being in FIRST Robotics... I just don't want to see Dean Kamen again.
He... only... wears... jean... outfits... ever...

... and he's got a CRAZY bunker of a house and I'm pretty sure he'd be the only person left on the planet after nuclear warfare.

p1p3r

You give 1 billion impoverished people this machine and in a few decades they will turn into 2 billion and exhaust the newly created supply of water.

eblingmis

What is the rate of production of water? I want one for each street in the millions of villages in India who have limited access to clean water.

If they can make it bigger, I will take 2 for my state.

ggvrsn

Gotta love the negativity and hate in these comments. The man makes a truly remarkable machine, with great intentions, and I continue to see 'now there will just be more poor people!' and 'this isn't new!'

Way to be so supportive, people. To those hating on this invention, where's your great idea? Or is sitting behind your monitor eating twinkies your contribution to mankind?

Gofastmazda

@Bob_of_Mars: Technically yes, as it is a water distiller. It's doing it in some clever way (boiling it of and recondensing it) that is more efficient and durable, and suited for use in remote parts of the world.

@ggvrsn: Dean says 1000 liters a day per unit.

ludwigk

Wow, so he invented a vapor compression distillation machine? Amazing. Too bad we've been working on them at NASA for years. This guy is such a quack.

Shane112358

1) He didn't invent it (or the self-balancing two-wheeled scooter for that matter)
2) It doesn't remove volatile compounds
3) When you decrease the mortality rate of a region the population growth rate decreases

haywardt

@ninjagin: Your right. Kamen talked recently about this at a government agency I work for. This thing requires very little power (enough to run a hair dryer) and runs off a sterling engine based generator. The generator can be powered by burning any fuel. A pilot program in an Indian village powers the unit by burning cow dung in a pit. He also showed it running off a propane tank. Excess heat from the distillation process is also reused causing the distilled water to exit the machine only one degree warmer then the source water. The real invention here is his re-tooling of the sterling engine.

yuck2me

I was at an awesome talk Dean Kamen gave a few months ago and he had a few slides on this project. Here are a few more details:

It distills water, meaning it can evaporate water out of any source then collect it. As he mentioned in the clip that means you don't need to replace any filters etc.

It requires a power source. They've also designed a power generator that works along side it.

They've done a 1 month field test with the generator/purifier (can't remember the location). The delivery concept they used was to allow only young girls to bring water home on the way back from school. In the village they chose there was a problem with families not sending the girls to school. The test was a huge succcess.

It is expensive. The number I recall is $4000, but I can't remember if that was for just the purifier or both. Don't hold me or them to that. The prototype is much more expensive. Keep in mind this is a solution for an entire village, not just a family.

Here's an article quoting $1000-2000 for the purifier
[money.cnn.com]

The talk was truly inspiring. What I hope happens is for someone to setup an organization to pool small donations together to buy these for individual villages. We've already seen how powerful that model is for micro-loans and in political donations. The more tangible the connection is, the larger the impact.

enginblue

How does this affect the jenkem market?

dalasv

"The electric generator is powered by an easily-obtained local fuel: cow dung. Each machine continuously outputs a kilowatt of electricity. That may not sound like much, but it is enough to light 70 energy-efficient bulbs. As Kamen puts it, "If you judiciously use a kilowatt, each villager can have a nighttime."

From CNN article linked below.
[money.cnn.com]

tanalei