LEGOs have the amazing ability to capture kids’ imaginations and to join together fantasy and reality in fun and exciting ways. As anyone who has seen boys playing LEGOs will have noticed, laser weapons, power tools, superpowers, and rocket launchers are always on the drawing board. Now a team at Umeå University in Sweden decided to let kids who use prosthetic arms gain some of these abilities.
The IKO creative prosthetic system integrates prosthetic technology with LEGO components, lettings kids experiment with building different tools and add-ons for their prostheses. The prosthetic arm can work with a pretty standard hand-like gripper, or kids themselves can take it off and put on a contraption of their own that may be way cooler than a boring old hand. It’ll certainly make many kids with “traditional” arms pretty jealous.
Project page: IKO
(hat tip: Gizmodo)