Alex Pring experienced a dream come true when Robert Downey Jr., a movie actor who plays the popular superhero Iron Man, presented him with a prosthetic arm that looked exactly like his character Iron Man’s.
Alex was presented with a fully functional prosthetic arm designed to look just like the iron man arm after being born with his right arm missing from just above the elbow. His mother wanted to get him a prosthetic arm since he was being teased at school about not having an arm.
His limb was made by Limbitless solutions which is a non-profit organization made up of engineering students from the University of Central Florida. These students specialize in designing 3D printed limbs for children since they quickly out grow them as they grow.
Each limb cost the team of students around $350 in materials. While the average prosthetic limb costs $40,000. Using the 3D printer in the university’s lab it takes about 30 to 50 hours to make a limb. The team usually pays for these limbs by saving money on simple things, such as skipping coffee and saving that money instead.
Albert Manero, a college senior and the founder of Limbitless Solutions, was the one who designed the bionic arm for Alex. The team figured that if they are helping him they might want to make him look like a cool super hero too. He started this program to help those who need limbs, but can’t afford to be constantly paying for new ones when they out grow them.
“To make an arm, a child is first measured and the current model of the arm is then appropriately scaled, from there, minor tweaks to the design may be necessary to accommodate any features unique to that child’s condition, and then the arm is printed. From there the pieces are assembled and the electronics are wired together and set in place. Finally, the child must be fitted with the arm and an appropriate socket, and the EMG sensors are calibrated before the arm is ready for use,” explain the Limbitless organization.
All the kids who were teasing Alex before aren’t making fun of him anymore. “Whenever people saw him, they’d say, ‘What’s wrong with your arm?’” stated Alyson Pring, Alex Pring’s mother. “Now it’s, ‘your arm is amazing, you’re so cool … it helps educate people to maybe think twice before saying something like, ‘Why are you like that’?”
Pring also got the special experience of meeting Robert Downey Jr, since he is a huge superhero fan. He invited Pring to see visit him in Atlanta this summer while he films the new Captain America movie. “Had the absolute privilege of presenting a brand spanking new 3D-printed bionic Iron Man arm to Alex, the most dapper 7-year-old I’ve ever met,” Robert Downey posted on social media.
Alex Pring’s dreams came true with the help of movie star Robert Downey Jr. and the Limbitless team. The team has a website and you can go there and donate to help more children get the opportunity to have prosthetic limbs that can’t afford them or out grow them.