Case study: Two children receive 3D-printed Spider-Man bionic arms

Open Bionics, a company specialising in attractive prosthetics, recently fitted two children with 3D-printed Spider-Man bionic arms.

The Hero Arm is a custom-made prosthesis, made by Open Bionics, using myoelectric sensors which detect underlying muscular contractions generated from specific muscle groups in the arm. These muscle contractions are read via sensors on the skin and then amplified and converted to intuitive bionic hand movements.

Beyond the innovative assistive technology itself, Open Bionics offers a diverse range of stylish custom prosthesis covers to match the wearer’s identity. The new Spider-Man prosthesis cover is the latest in Open Bionics’ range, and two British children are the first in the world to wear this official artwork.

Safiyyah Uddin, age 8, from East London, wanted to be more independent and to do activities with both hands.

Safiyyah said: “Sometimes it’s hard holding two books with one hand, and sometimes I drop things. I wanted a Hero Arm so I can hold things with both hands.”

Now Safiyyah uses the Hero Arm at school to do lots of things like taking pencils out, for books, carrying her bag, and playing the cello. When Safiyyah saw her Gwen Stacy design, she immediately noticed the stencil of her favourite character.

“I love the design, and that you can see the Spider-Man logo and Gwen on the side,” she commented.

The first thing Safiyyah did with her new arm was to go for a bike ride. She loved that her arm matched the colours on her bike.

9-year-old Kaden Taylor from Burnham-on-Sea received his Hero Arm as a surprise after mentioning to his family that he’d like to wear one. When Kaden opened a box with his new Spider-Man bionic arm in it, he was shocked.

Kaden’s mum, Colette Taylor, has always been adamant she didn’t want to hide Kaden’s limb difference and whether he would wear an artificial arm would always be his choice.

Colette said: “Kaden has never worn any prosthetics, we’ve always offered him options and he always refused. When I showed him the Hero Arm, he shouted ‘yes please!’”

When Kaden first saw his Spider-Man Hero Arm, he exclaimed: ‘Wow!’ After taking a closer look at the design, he expressed how artistic it is.

He added: “I can’t believe I’m the first person in the world to get this!”

As well as the cool aesthetics, Kaden wanted the Hero Arm so he could do two-handed activities with confidence.

“At the moment when he rides his bike, he falls off quite a bit, gets scratches and bruises, so having a Hero Arm will make a big difference in things he can do,” continued Colette.

Within an hour of being fitted with his Hero Arm, Kaden was able to enjoy his lunch with both hands, open a packet of crisps, pick up fruit, and enjoy a smoothie.

Samantha Payne, the co-founder of Open Bionics, concluded: “We’ve been working with Disney and Marvel for close to a year to create three Spider-Man looks, and we are all beyond excited to see them brought to life by the cool kids Safiyyah and Kaden. We are now on the lookout for our Miles Morales. If you know a super-fan with a below-elbow limb difference, we want to speak with them!”