After working on a prosthetic arm project, one thing that I realized is that a hand is a very personal product. I became curious to see what happens if the end user is more involved in the design process. My friend Phume Mthimunye and I teamed up with Autodesk and KIDmob to run a 5 day workshop at Autodesk's pier 9.
How might we consider a missing limb as a blank canvas rather than a disability? At Superhero Cyborgs workshop, six kids created their own superpowers via personal wearable devices - a potential alternative to their traditional upper limb prosthetic. I co-lead the workshop at and developed the curriculum.
During the workshop I worked with Kate Ganim (KIDmob co-director), Kady Franson (KIDmob co-founder), Andreas Bastian (3D printing researcher at Autodesk), Noam Zomerfeld (California College of the Arts student), and Phume Mthimunye (Autodesk intern and California College of the Arts student) to help the kids envision and prototype their own personal wearable devices.
The Superhero Cyborgs developed their projects from ideation to execution, and learned how to 3D model, 3D scan, 3D print, sew, solder, drill and many more skills in order to fabricate their awesome projects, resulting in an amazing range of functional prototypes -from a glitter bomb hand, to a horse riding attachment and a weight lifting device.
