3D printing technology can do many things, but one of the best, in my opinion, is inspiring people to make the world a better place. We first heard about young self-taught engineer Easton LaChappelle back in 2014, a year after he had the chance to demonstrate his 3D printed robotic prosthetic to then-President Barack Obama at the White House Science Fair. LaChappelle was working with robotics experts at NASA’s Johnson Space Center to refine his prosthetics, in hopes that they could eventually help amputees who couldn’t afford high-cost standard prostheses.
Now 21 years old, LaChappelle, who lives in Colorado, has come a long way since the first robotic hand he made out of LEGOs, electrical tubing, and fishing wire when he was 14. He’s made a young girl he met at another science fair a prosthetic arm for just $400, founded his own company, Unlimited Tomorrow, Inc., at age 18, and in 2015 launched a GoFundMe campaign to further develop his open-source, advanced robotic arms.
He was put in touch with 9-year-old Momo thanks to a Florida nonprofit organization that had heard of his work with prosthetics. Momo is missing her right arm from the elbow down, and it became his personal, heartwarming mission to make her a prosthetic arm that would become a model for the one he hopes to provide to many other children.
Microsoft filmed the process, and together with Seattle-based Belief Agency, has launched a three-part documentary series about LaChappelle and Momo. Each of the three episodes details a different part of the unique story, and runs between five and seven minutes. The first episode details his origin story, as it were (I’m not crying, you’re crying…).
LaChappelle had the opportunity to go to Seattle and work in B87, Microsoft’s ‘black ops’ prototyping lab. Microsoft, seeing his work advance and inspired by his project, invited him to spend over two months there, rather than the originally-planned one week. To make the project deadline and give the 3D printed robotic prosthetic arm to Momo on time, some of the company’s top industrial designers got involved, and helped LaChappelle finish it just hours before Momo got to Seattle.
LaChappelle and Momo had spent years communicating virtually, and finally met in person this summer when he gave her his first successful, 3D printed device, which cost less than $4,000.
While LaChappelle was very glad to deliver the arm to Momo, the 3D printed, low-cost prosthetic was just the start, and he has since published open source prosthetic designs, in order to allow for and encourage ongoing innovation.
Below are the second and third parts of this documentary:
Discuss in the Microsoft forum at 3DPB.com.
[Source/Images: Upbeat]