Thursday 22 February 2018

Teen uses 3-D printing to build a new arm for his veteran dad

An ambitious teen used his ingenuity, know-how and a little technology to build a new arm for his veteran dad, who was wounded in Iraq.

St. Louis high school student Robbie Frei built a custom-made robotic prosthetic arm for his dad, who is an amputee, according to Fox 2 St. Louis.

Frei, who has said he wants to go into robotics when he hits college, built the arm for his father in about 3 months. Frei's father was injured in an RPG attack in 2003 in Iraq.

HOW 5,000 PENCIL-SIZE ROBOTS MAY SOLVE THE MYSTERIES OF THE UNIVERSE

But first, he built an arm adapter for the Nintendo Switch video console to allow his dad to play video games again.

“When my dad was injured in the Marines he wasn't able to play video games with us for about 10 years, and after I created that 3D printed adapter he was able to play with us full speed,” Frei said.

Eventually, he created a custom scanned prosthetic, using his dad's left hand and then mirrored it to be able to used for his right hand. Robbie's father can now throw a ball using the prosthetic.

This isn't the first time Robbie has exemplified his talents, according to those who know him.

Source: foxnews