Pat Starace says his light-up Iron Man prosthetic was designed to be “awesome.” Photo courtesy of PatStarace.com.
A new Arduino-powered prosthetic hand not only looks like Iron Man’s, it also lights up in multiple ways. Mechanical designer and animator Pat Starace says he designed the child-sized hand with three goals in mind. “It had to look awesome, it had to perform awesome, and there would be no strings or mechanics that could distract from the visual impact,” Starace explains in a demo video.
The “thruster” in the palm of the prosthetic is automatically activated when the user tilts the hand back. While it does not produce the massive force associated with Iron Man’s hands, RGB LEDs do light up in interesting patterns.
The shield on top of the hand contains red LEDs. When the hand is tilted down, the shield pulls back to reveal the tiny shining lights, meant to imitate Iron Man’s lasers.
According to Starace’s Website, the hand took more than a month to complete. Despite all the hard work he put into it, Starance does not plan to sell the hand. Instead he’d like to give it away. Interested parents can contact him via his Website.
