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Phoenix666 [soylentnews.org] writes:

A new prosthetic arm [wired.com] dubbed Iko can be endlessly customized with Lego pieces so that kids can make it whatever they want it to be.

The field of prosthetics has seen significant advances in recent years. Designers have harnessed new technologies like 3-D printing to make prosthetics more beautiful, fashionable, or waterproof. Making prosthetics more accessible and expressive empowers the people who wear them. Iko aims to help kids overcome the stigma of having a prosthetic by making it fun to wear.

Iko is the work of Carlos Arturo Torres, who built the set of white plastic parts so that a child could easily swap out a hand-like four-fingered claw for a digital spaceship. “My friends in psychology used to tell me that when a kid has a disability, he is not really aware of it until he faces society,” Torres says. “That’s when they have a super rough encounter.” Torres’s design is geared toward kids between three and 12 years old, a broad age range covering crucial self-esteem-building years.

Using tech to make amputee kids feel like they have superpowers. May we all do such good with our craft...

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