Dark engineering lab with prosthetic and robotic components, precision tools, and medical device equipment.

Dean Kamen Biography: From Medical Pumps to the iBOT and Segway

by

A Quick Look at the Life of Dean Kamen

Biography Summary

Dean Kamen’s career began with wearable drug-delivery technology and expanded into mobility systems, prosthetics, water purification, and regenerative manufacturing.

He founded AutoSyringe, established DEKA Research & Development Corporation, and became widely associated with the iBOT mobility system and the Segway.

His work also moved beyond products. Kamen founded FIRST in 1989, building a second major strand of his career around youth participation in science and technology.

His later years have included major honors, commercial setbacks, scrutiny involving ARMI, and a 2026 departure from FIRST after disclosures about his past interactions with Jeffrey Epstein.

Profile

Full Name: Dean Kamen

Born: April 5, 1951

Birthplace: Rockville Centre, New York, United States

Education: Studied physics at Worcester Polytechnic Institute; left without completing a degree; received an honorary doctorate in engineering from WPI in 1992

Best Known For: Medical-device development, the iBOT mobility system, the Segway, and founding FIRST

Company / Organization: Founder and president of DEKA Research & Development Corporation; Executive Director and Chairman of the Board of ARMI/BioFabUSA as of September 17, 2026

Other Current Roles: Founder and chairperson of the FIRST Global Executive Board; co-founder and director of Sequel Med Tech as of September 17, 2026

Major Honors: 1999 Heinz Award, 2000 National Medal of Technology, 2002 Lemelson-MIT Prize, and 2005 induction into the National Inventors Hall of Fame

From Early Electronics to Wearable Drug Delivery

Kamen’s path into engineering began before his best-known companies and products.

He later recalled building and controlling light-show equipment while in high school and around the beginning of college, including equipment for the Hayden Planetarium. He said he reinvested the money from that work in electronics equipment that filled his parents’ basement.

He studied physics at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. During his undergraduate years, medical drug delivery became a defining problem.

According to Kamen’s own account, an older brother in medical training faced the challenge of delivering very small quantities of drugs to pediatric patients. Kamen said that problem led him to develop small programmable delivery devices that evolved into wearable pumps.

In July 1973, Kamen filed a patent application for a “Medication Injection Device.” The patent was granted in January 1975.

WPI identifies the AutoSyringe wearable medication pump as work he developed while he was an undergraduate, and the National Inventors Hall of Fame later described it as his first major innovation.

Kamen founded AutoSyringe to manufacture and market the pumps. The company was sold to Baxter International in the early 1980s, marking the transition to the next stage of his engineering career.

Building DEKA and Expanding Medical-Device Work

Kamen founded DEKA Research & Development Corporation in Manchester, New Hampshire, in 1982. The company became the base for a broader range of medical and engineering projects.

Among the systems associated with Kamen and DEKA was HomeChoice, an automated peritoneal dialysis system launched by Baxter in 1994.

The work fit a pattern that also appeared in Kamen’s earlier infusion-pump work: engineering systems that could move treatment or capability closer to the individual rather than keeping it tied to a fixed clinical setting.

Over time, DEKA’s portfolio expanded into mobility, prosthetics, fluid management, water purification, and drug-delivery technologies. Several of the company’s later systems were developed through teams and partnerships rather than as solo projects.

The iBOT and a New Kind of Mobility

The Independence iBOT mobility system brought Kamen’s engineering work into a new area. Publicly revealed in 1999, the battery-powered device used sensors, microprocessors, and gyroscopes to perform functions that included balancing on two wheels and climbing stairs.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the Independence iBOT 3000 Mobility System in 2003. Its approved functions included travel over smooth surfaces and inclines, movement over obstacles and uneven terrain, elevated seated mobility, and stair ascent and descent under specified conditions.

Commercial adoption proved more difficult. Independence Technology, a Johnson & Johnson division, announced that it would stop selling the iBOT in 2009, citing insufficient demand for a sustainable market and a challenging reimbursement environment.

The technology later returned through a new partnership. Toyota and DEKA announced a 2016 agreement intended to help DEKA complete and launch a next-generation iBOT. The FDA cleared the Next Generation iBOT in 2018.

The Segway and the Gap Between Expectations and Adoption

The balancing technology behind Kamen’s mobility work helped set the context for the product that made him far more visible to the public.

The Segway was unveiled in December 2001 after extensive secrecy and speculation. It was a self-balancing, two-wheeled vehicle controlled through the rider’s body movements.

Kamen’s own expectations were sweeping. At the unveiling, he said the Segway “will be to the car what the car was to the horse and buggy.” The comparison captured the scale of the urban-transportation ambitions surrounding the product.

Those ambitions did not translate into mass adoption. Later reporting described the roughly $5,000 price and the device’s awkwardness as obstacles to broad acceptance. Kamen sold the Segway business in 2009.

The product also faced safety-related recalls. In 2003, Segway LLC voluntarily recalled about 6,000 units in cooperation with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission because certain low-battery conditions could create a fall risk.

In 2006, Segway Inc. voluntarily recalled about 23,500 units because a particular sequence of conditions could cause unexpected reverse torque and another fall risk.

The iBOT and Segway together illustrate a recurring tension in Kamen’s career: technical capability and market sustainability did not always move together. The iBOT was discontinued commercially before being revived through a new partnership, while the Segway attracted extraordinary expectations without reaching the mass audience envisioned at its debut.

FIRST and the Expansion Beyond Products

Kamen’s career was not limited to devices. In 1989, he founded FIRST, short for For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology, with the goal of encouraging young people to become science and technology leaders and innovators.

The first FIRST Robotics Competition was held in 1992 in a New Hampshire school gym, where 28 high-school teams competed. President George H. W. Bush attended the event.

FIRST later developed into a large international STEM organization. Its FY2025 annual impact report said it engaged more than 853,000 youth participants during the fiscal year. The figure is FIRST’s own reported measure of program scale.

For Kamen, FIRST became a second major strand of his public work. Instead of centering on a single product, it grew through programs, sponsors, mentors, volunteers, and youth participation.

Prosthetics, Water Purification, and Regenerative Manufacturing

Kamen and his DEKA colleagues also worked on advanced prosthetics through the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s Revolutionizing Prosthetics program.

DARPA states that Kamen and the DEKA team developed what became the LUKE arm, with additional U.S. Army funding. The FDA granted De Novo classification for the DEKA Arm System in 2014.

Mobius Bionics was launched in 2016 to bring the LUKE arm to market, and DARPA reported that the first recipients of a new generation of the system received arms in 2017.

DEKA’s work also included Slingshot water-purification technology. In 2012, The Coca-Cola Company announced a long-term partnership with DEKA to deploy the technology in communities with limited access to potable water.

Coca-Cola said the companies had previously conducted a 2011 field trial at five schools outside Accra, Ghana. The partnership and trials demonstrate deployment efforts, but they do not establish a definitive lifetime scale for the technology.

In 2017, Kamen’s later career expanded into regenerative manufacturing with the formal launch of BioFabUSA under the Advanced Regenerative Manufacturing Institute, or ARMI.

A Department of Defense account identified him as BioFabUSA’s acting executive director at the opening and described the institute’s mission as advancing large-scale manufacturing of engineered tissues and organs while developing a workforce for the field.

ARMI Financial Relationships and Governance Scrutiny

ARMI later drew public scrutiny over its financial relationships with businesses controlled by Kamen.

A 2023 investigation by New Hampshire Public Radio and APM Reports, based on tax documents, audits, business filings, and property records, reported that at least $34 million in ARMI funding had flowed to for-profit businesses controlled by him. The reporting also described rent paid to Kamen-controlled real-estate businesses and identified DEKA as a major recipient of ARMI grant funding.

The investigation quoted nonprofit-governance experts who raised transparency concerns about the overlapping relationships.

ARMI responded that some grants to DEKA had been directly determined by federal agencies, while other grants involving Kamen-controlled companies were reviewed by an advisory council. ARMI also said it was reviewing certain related-party characterizations with legal and financial advisers.

ProPublica’s Nonprofit Explorer later showed that ARMI’s 2023 and 2024 IRS filings reported conflict-of-interest transactions on Schedule L.

The reporting raised governance and transparency questions, but it did not establish that the arrangements were illegal or that the full amount flowing to Kamen-controlled companies represented Kamen’s personal profit.

2026 Epstein Disclosures and Departure from FIRST

Kamen’s relationship with FIRST changed sharply in 2026 after U.S. Department of Justice disclosures involving his past interactions with Jeffrey Epstein.

On January 31, FIRST announced that Kamen would take a leave of absence from its board and all FIRST activities while an outside law firm conducted an independent review.

In March, New Hampshire Public Radio reported that records and emails released by the Justice Department showed that Kamen and Epstein had been in contact for more than a decade and that Kamen visited Epstein’s private island in the Caribbean.

Kamen said he had not been aware of Epstein’s crimes and expressed support for justice for Epstein’s victims.

FIRST later announced that its independent review found no evidence of misconduct by Kamen. He nevertheless resigned from the FIRST Board and withdrew from FIRST activities in March 2026. He said he wished he had been more careful given the trust placed in him by the FIRST community.

Other organizations conducted their own reviews. ARMI announced that an external-law-firm investigation found no evidence of wrongdoing by Kamen in matters relevant to the disclosures and said he would resume full participation on the ARMI Board.

Sequel Med Tech said an external independent law firm hired by a special board committee found no evidence of wrongdoing or inappropriate conduct by him.

The organizations announced those conclusions after reviews they commissioned. They were not court rulings or Justice Department findings, and the available record does not establish that Kamen participated in Epstein’s sexual abuse, trafficking, or other criminal conduct.

Current Work and Roles

As of September 17, 2026, DEKA identifies Kamen as its founder and president. ARMI/BioFabUSA lists him as Executive Director and Chairman of the Board, while FIRST Global lists him as founder and chairperson of its Executive Board. Sequel Med Tech lists him as a co-founder and director.

FIRST Global is separate from FIRST. Kamen no longer serves on the FIRST Board and withdrew from FIRST activities in March 2026.

DEKA also remained active in drug-delivery technology. In June 2026, the FDA cleared DEKA’s twiist Automated Insulin Delivery System through the 510(k) process.

The clearance brings Kamen’s company back to a field closely connected to the wearable medication systems that helped begin his career, although it does not establish that he personally designed every component of the modern system.

Recognition and an Ongoing Career

Kamen’s work has brought several major honors. He received the Heinz Award in Technology, the Economy and Employment in 1999, the U.S. National Medal of Technology in 2000, and the Lemelson-MIT Prize in 2002.

In 2005, he was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame for the AutoSyringe ambulatory infusion pump.

The Segway is only one part of Kamen’s longer record. His career moves through drug-delivery systems, home dialysis, mobility, prosthetics, youth robotics, water purification, and regenerative manufacturing. It also includes products that struggled commercially and later-career governance and reputational scrutiny.

Because Kamen remains active in several organizations and DEKA continues to develop medical technology, the story is still developing.

Across the decades, a recurring pattern has been the use of both engineering projects and institutions to extend technological capability beyond a single product or field.

Timeline

This timeline highlights major milestones in Dean Kamen’s career, organizations, products, and later public record.

Timeline.

1951

Dean Kamen is born on April 5 in Rockville Centre, New York.

Early 1970s

Kamen studies physics at Worcester Polytechnic Institute and works on wearable drug-delivery technology.

1973–1975

He files a patent application for a medication injection device in 1973. U.S. Patent 3,858,581 is granted in 1975.

1970s

Kamen founds AutoSyringe to manufacture and market infusion pumps.

Early 1980s

AutoSyringe is sold to Baxter International during the early 1980s.

1982

Kamen founds DEKA Research & Development Corporation in Manchester, New Hampshire.

1989

Kamen founds FIRST.

1992

The inaugural FIRST Robotics Competition brings 28 high-school teams to a New Hampshire school gym.

1994

Baxter launches the HomeChoice automated peritoneal dialysis system associated with Kamen and DEKA’s development work.

1999

The iBOT mobility system is publicly revealed. Kamen also receives the Heinz Award in Technology, the Economy and Employment.

2000

Kamen receives the U.S. National Medal of Technology.

2001

The Segway is publicly unveiled in December.

2002

Kamen receives the Lemelson-MIT Prize.

2003

The FDA approves the Independence iBOT 3000 Mobility System. Segway LLC later recalls about 6,000 units to address a low-power fall-risk condition.

2005

Kamen is inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame for the AutoSyringe ambulatory infusion pump.

2006

Segway Inc. recalls about 23,500 personal transporters to address a reverse-torque fall-risk condition.

2009

Independence Technology stops selling the iBOT after citing insufficient demand and reimbursement challenges. Kamen sells the Segway business.

2012

Coca-Cola announces a long-term partnership with DEKA involving Slingshot water-purification technology.

2014

The FDA grants De Novo classification for the DEKA Arm System.

2016

Toyota and DEKA announce an agreement supporting development of a next-generation iBOT. Mobius Bionics is launched to bring the LUKE arm to market.

2017

BioFabUSA formally opens under ARMI, with Kamen serving as acting executive director at the opening.

2018

The FDA clears the Next Generation iBOT.

2023

New Hampshire Public Radio and APM Reports publish an investigation into ARMI’s financial relationships with Kamen-controlled businesses.

FY2025

FIRST reports engaging more than 853,000 youth participants during the fiscal year.

January 2026

Kamen takes leave from the FIRST Board and FIRST activities while an outside law firm reviews Justice Department disclosures involving his interactions with Jeffrey Epstein.

March 2026

Kamen resigns from the FIRST Board and withdraws from FIRST activities. FIRST says its review found no evidence of misconduct. ARMI and Sequel also announce conclusions from their own external legal reviews.

June 2026

The FDA clears DEKA’s twiist Automated Insulin Delivery System through the 510(k) process.

Interviews

Dean Kamen on Early Invention, Medical Devices, iBOT and Segway

This 2003 Fresh Air interview gives Kamen’s firsthand account of his early electronics work and the origins of his medical-device career. It also covers dialysis technology, the iBOT, and the Segway, making it useful for hearing how he described several major stages of his work in his own words.

View the interview

Dean Kamen on Self-Directed Learning and Invention

This 2016 Science Friday conversation includes Kamen’s account of the medical problem that helped lead him toward drug-delivery technology and his views on self-directed learning and invention. It offers firsthand context for the early ideas that shaped his career.

View the interview

Sources