[7] Kamen built two machines — a power generator that would output one kilowatt from "anything that burns", and the water distiller, which uses the electricity.

While the initial devices cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, Kamen hopes that increased economies of scale will allow production machines to be made available for $2,000 each.

[9] In his TEDMED 2010 presentation, Kamen lamented throughout that when he asked for "a few million dollars" over a few months, no large global health organizations supported the development.

[10] In October 2012, Kamen and Coca-Cola CEO Muhtar Kent announced at the Clinton Global Initiative that in collaboration with DEKA Research, Africare and Inter-American Development Bank, they will start bringing the Slingshot to rural parts of Latin America and Africa.

Kamen hopes to send thousands of the units with local village entrepreneurs, in much the same way independent cell phone businesses have thrived and gradually changed the face of many impoverished areas around the globe.