SlingShot (2014)

Growing up, Dean Kamen heard the story of David and Goliath and how David was able to defeat the giant using a rock and a sling. To Kamen, the story illustrated how that little piece of technology took out that really big problem.

When Kamen set out to solve the planets clean water problem, he decided to name his invention Slingshot hoping the machine could attack the giant challenge of unsafe water around the world. SLINGSHOT, a feature documentary film by director Paul Lazarus, focuses on the life of the iconoclastic and brilliant inventor Dean Kamen as well as his 15-year quest to solve the world's safe water crisis. Best known for inventing the Segway, Kamen holds over 440 patents. He is a quirky and intensely private genius whose myriad of inventions, most of which are medical devices, are intended to help ease peoples suffering and improve quality of life. SLINGSHOT examines this indomitable and complex man who commutes to work in a helicopter, and wears the same denim outfit everyday. The movie tells us that Kamen also founded FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology), a robotics competition and international mentorship program that currently gets over 300, 000 students excited about engineering and innovation. Also featured in the film are former President Bill Clinton, Stephen Colbert and Muhtar Kent, the current CEO of The Coca-Cola Company. Among his other pursuits, Kamen has relentlessly searched for an effective way to clean up the worlds water supply and so developed the Slingshot, the first machine of its kind. Fifty percent of all human illnesses are the result of water borne pathogens, and the Slingshot is an energy efficient vapor compression distiller that can turn any unfit source of water (seawater, poisoned well water, river sludge, etc. ) into potable, safe water without any need for chemical additives or filters. While Kamen has designed a machine that works to solve the water crisis, he has continued to struggle to get his machines mass-produced and distributed around the world into the communities that most need them. A recent alliance with the Coca-Cola Company, whose bottling plants are in 206 countries, will help address this major global challenge. Dean Kamens passion and commitment to the impossible are as inspiring as his revolutionary inventions. Through Kamen and SLINGSHOT, we are one step closer to a world where science and technology are celebrated and where young people dream of becoming science and technology leaders.