However, one scientist in this developing technological field is doing something that really deserves to be remembered. Carlos Arturo Torres Tovar is helping children design and build their
very own prosthetic arms out of LEGO blocks, and the
result is a high functioning prosthetic that not only
increases the child’s real life mobility skills, it helps their
social interactions and self-confidence.
Tovar got the idea for his project while working in the
LEGO Future Lab in Denmark. LEGO’s Future Lab is a
somewhat secretive research and development lab owned
by the LEGO Group. The scientists and researchers there
were charged with the task of studying how kids all over
the world play. While working there, he saw amazing LEGO
inventions like a fully functional automobile, a robot that’s
able to solve Rubik’s cubes, and (most importantly) their
In a world of ever-changing technological advances, ideas can be lost among the hundreds
and hundreds of similar projects. The prosthetic limb industry is a very real example of
this. Thousands of scientists every year come up with blueprints and ideas that could
lower the cost, increase the functionality, or make prosthetics look sleeker and less bulky.
Although these ideas are great and could likely benefit the prosthetic industry and
amputees, they can get lost in the surplus amount of ideas circulating the Internet every
week. Readers see a new “3D printed prosthetic” online so many times they are likely to
forget them after a day or two.
SERVO 01.2016 33
LEGO
MY
PROSTHETIC
By Holden Berry
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