There was once a time when, if you lost a limb, you could replace it with a very expensive, and nonfunctional prosthetic, which might allow you to do things like walk, but would never allow you to do things like grip, throw, climb, or the hundreds of other things someone like a little boy might want to do with his limbs every day. Luckily though, a University of Texas at Arlington graduate has shown that we do indeed live in the future, by using a 3D printer to create a prosthetic for a little boy for only 100 dollars worth of materials.
This prosthetic, which is thousands of dollars cheaper than the average, not only was a bargain price, it also does incredible things. There is a flashlight built in, and a laser, two things any little boy would be over the moon for, but it also uses a complex series of hinges and cords to grip and will allow the boy to do things he could never have imagined.
The graduate and architect of the arm, Adam Williams, has always loved building things and has always had a heart for helping people. So it was that when he heard the story of 8-year-old Garret Clark, whose father is a professor at UTA, he couldn’t help but get involved. The university already had all the equipment that Williams needed to create the arm, so he knew it was just a matter of getting the necessary materials and creating the right design, and with that, he could give Garret back a childhood full of adventure and use of two arms and hands.
Garret is already getting a lot of use out of his arm, he immediately went to work high fiving his brother, and arm wrestling his mother. Williams and the UTA lab aren’t done with Garret though, they are currently working on a flipper to fit Garret with that will allow him to swim with ease. Right now the entire family and Williams are just excited to see what all the possibilities for the future are, as Garret’s dad says, “Part of the journey is seeing what’s going to happen.”
Video Courtesy: YouTube via J Lane
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SOURCE: CBS DFW
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