Star Wars fan receives BB-8 Bionic Arm and message from Mark Hamill

in Disney, Marvel, Movies, Star Wars, Technology

A young boy sitting on a table

Cameron, an 11-year-old Star Wars fan who born without right arm, recently received a very special bionic arm from Open Bionics. The special BB-8 themed Hero Arm recipient caught the attention of Luke Skywalker himself, Mark Hamill.

Hamill recently worked with the Open Bionics, recording an encouraging message of support for children in need of the device. Upon seeing twitter video of Cameron unboxing his device, Hamill sent a personal reply to the young Star Fan.

A kid with a Bionic arm

Open Bionics has perfected a useful and responsive 3D printed bionic “Hero Arm” for people with “upper limb differences.” This magical appendage allows them to grip, flex fingers and move the artificial hand just as they would a normal hand.

Star Wars Bionic arm

To help encourage children needing use of this device, Mark Hamill stepped in and recorded a special message of encouragement:

“Remember, Luke lost his hand to Vader, but that didn’t stop him from defeating the Empire.

“So have courage, be determined, and always remember that your limb difference is your very own superpower.

“And may the Force be with you all.” -Mark Hamill (via Guacamoley)

This March, 11-year-old Cameron Millar received a droid version Hero Arm. Excited over the BB-8 markings of his new hand, Cameron shared his delight online:

Hero Arm devices grant users the chance to enjoy a more normal life with life-like movement of fingers, hand and wrist:

Bionic arms work by picking up signals from a user’s muscles. When a user puts on their bionic arm and flexes muscles in their residual limb just below their elbow; special sensors detect tiny naturally generated electric signals, and convert these into intuitive and proportional bionic hand movement. The bionic hand is controlled by tensing the same muscles which are used to open and close a biological hand. – open bionics

Open Bionics didn’t limit itself to just Star Wars themed Hero Arm designs. Alita, Iron Man and Frozen versions have also put smiles on recipients faces.

Three kids with BB-8 Bionic arms

A woman standing in front of a building

Source and images: Nerdist, Guacamoley!, Open Bonics, Twitter, YouTube

in Disney, Marvel, Movies, Star Wars, Technology

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