>DARPA has given DEKA $40 million since 2006 to develop the arm, Rick Weiss, a spokesman for the agency, said by phone. DEKA owns the patents and commercial rig

>DARPA has given DEKA $40 million since 2006 to develop the arm, Rick Weiss, a spokesman for the agency, said by phone. DEKA owns the patents and commercial rights for the device. For some reason i continue to have problems every time I read something like this. Taxpayers fund all kinds of research through private enterprise or universities and all of it ends-up monetized by such entities. We even have to pay to have access to research papers stemming from research that would not have happened without our money. What's wrong wih this picture? Kamen has $40 million dollars of his own money. Why did we pay for it and hand over rights? It's like hiring someone to develop a website for you and then handing over all commercial interests on said site. Nuts.