A helping hand

1 Easton LaChappelle, a 14-year-old student, stood beside his work at a science fair. It was a robotic arm. He built it out of plastic blocks and fishing line.

2 “Hello,” said a girl with an artificial arm, as she shook hands with Easton’s work.

3 This was the first time Easton met Jenny, a girl with a special condition. She was born without an arm. Her artificial arm was just a simple hook, but it cost $80,000. What’s worse, children like her grow quickly and need new arms all the time.

4 “It blew me away! I built my arm for only $300,” thought Easton. “I must lend a hand to people like her.”

5 After the fair, Easton’s room became a lab. He stayed there all day. He always tried to improve his work. For his 16th birthday, Easton got a 3-D printer. And with it, he invented an artificial arm. It was able to move with brain signals of the user. But it wasn’t good enough yet: the arm weighed 3.6 kilograms. It was too heavy for a child.

6 Easton kept working on it. He enjoyed fixing problems one after another. And finally he hit on success at age 23. His design only weighed 0.5 kilograms and cost around $500!

7 Easton’s invention has helped many children. He didn’t want to make money from it. He decided to post his design online... for free! People can download the design and make an artificial arm with their own 3-D printers!

8 What a helping hand!