(Newswire.net — January 17, 2015) — 7-year old Liam Porter was born without the lower part of his left arm. As a huge fan of the Star Wars franchise, he received a cool colonial trooper look prosthetic arm. New arm is not only cool looking; however, it has functionality as well. Liam’s old mannequin doll-like prosthetic arm was useless, and with new limb, which is designed as the Star Wars trooper arm he has ability to grab things.
Thanks’ to designers that think out the box, Liam was presented 3-D printed clone trooper inspired arm that he can actually use to grab things.
Designer John Peterson developed the out-of-this-world limb through the nonprofit organization E-Nable, which provides children with cool designed and functional prosthetics made with 3-D printers.
At the ceremony, Liam remains speechless but he immediately flex his fist and pick up a cup. The one word of reaction Liam did offer pretty much sums up the whole story though – “Cool!” he said.
As Liam gets older, parts need to be replaced. With 3D printing technology, it is easy and inexpensive to replace any part of the 3D printed limb, which is made of individual plastic pieces that can be easily modified.
‘RIT arm’ designed for people with an elbow can be printed in a few hours for the fraction of the cost of a “real” prosthetic from a medical supplier.
Liam, a ‘Star Wars’ fan, also received an Imperial helmet and a certificate from the Georgia garrison of the 501st Legion.