What if you were a kid born without a forearm, but good prosthetics cost upwards of tens of thousands of dollars? And you can’t get one because you’d outgrow it in six months.
Then, what if someone invented a cool super-hero style robotic arm that is only a few hundred dollars? And they let you pick whether you want a Transformer arm… a Blue Man arm… or even an Iron Man arm!
Take a look at this video to see how the original Iron Man is passing on the glory to a kid who wants to be like him…
Thanks to a group of engineering students at a Florida college, this project is taking off. And yes, they could turn it into a commercial success and charge whatever they want for these robo-arms. But they haven’t done that. One student commented, “who should make money off a kid who needs an arm?” I can’t tell you how that comment wakes up my hippy-dippy sensibilities! Bravo to the students who donate their skills and time to do this!
And listen to this…
One father said that the questions his kid gets have completely changed since he got the new arm.
Old questions: What happened to your arm? Did a shark bite it off? Did you get run over by a car? Were you just born weird?
New questions: You are so cool… where did you get that arm? How does it work? Show us what you can do! Do you have super powers??
Now if that doesn’t make the whole project worthwhile, I don’t know what would.
So that’s my sketchbook entry for today.
I love it because one kid said he can’t wait to high-five everyone he knows (and he thinks that will probably be at least 106 people!) Another said he wants to give his mom a real hug with two hands. And a 12-year-old said it would sure be nice to ask a pretty girl to dance and be able to put one arm around her while leading with the other…
You can read more about this project on their facebook page, Limbitless Solutions. They are looking for engineers, designers and artists to contribute and expand the project.
I hope you all are having an inspired day!
myverysketchylife 