In the UK, a robotics firm has teamed up with Disney to create prosthetic arms that are printed on a 3-D printer. These arms are guaranteed to get children and even adults excited about the possibilities!
The company, known as Open Bionics, has created 3 designs to date. The first is inspired by Elsa from Frozen and it is a glittery arm that is perfect for a little girl. The second arm looks like Tony Stark’s on Iron Man and the third is inspired by Star Wars and comes in a light saber theme. Incidentally, the light saber arm has an authentic light saber sound and customized LED lights.
Disney is involved in as much as they have allowed the use of these designs without charge according to the terms of the Disney Accelerator program. This program is an initiative between TechStars and Disney meant to build creativity and innovation within the technical world. A number of mentors for this initiative are employed by large companies, including Amazon, Nike and Facebook.
Joel Gabbert, who is the founder of Open Bionics is excited about the program and said that requests are coming in, not only from children but also from adults! Several orders have been placed by adults for the light saber arms. He went on to state…
“The power of these prosthetics is that the public perception is completely different. All of a sudden they’re not being asked how they lost their hand, they’re being asked where they got their cool robot hand, how does it feel, and how does it work? It completely flips the perception 180 degrees. What might have been perceived as their greatest weakness is seen as their greatest strength.”
Since these arms are manufactured using a 3-D printer, the cost is relatively low in comparison with other prosthetics. Typically, you would be able to purchase one of these arms for under $3000. They are expected to be on sale before January, 2017.