Jordan Reeves, a 10-year-old from Columbia, Missouri, has designed her own prosthetic hand that shoots glitter.
“This pushes the bubble and gold dust shoots out,” Jordan explained, demonstrating the mechanism behind her prosthetic arm.
The little girl was born with her left arm that stopped just above the elbow. She created the prosthetic arm through the Superhero Cyborgs 2.0 program in San Francisco, a workshop hosted by the nonprofit KIDmob and 3-D software company Autodesk. The program connects children between the ages of 10 and 15 with upper limb problems with professional engineers so they can design and build their own custom-made prosthetics.
Jordan's mother, Jen Lee Reeves, described the struggle to find a comfortable, good prosthetic for her daughter over the years – something that became a little easier with the advent of 3D printing.
“We always encourage the development of 3D printing because it’s more accessible. I think the engineers who make these limbs are really great, but they don’t know the body. There’s a revolution that’s emerging where doctors and specialists with degrees who help the body need to know more about how they can help the body with more accessible tools.” Jen Lee Reeves is the founder of Born Just Right, an online platform for parents of children with special needs to share their stories and find support.
"She doesn't mind having one arm. It's a blessing," Jen wrote of her daughter. "How many two-handed kids can say they have a bunch of extra arms?"
Five days into the 10-day project and with the help of a 3D-printed prototype, Jordan designed this: a palm that can be worn on the user’s hand. Known as “Project Unicorn,” the cannon shoots glitter from five separate slots using a trigger, wrapped around hand-operated air compressors. Of course, it still needs a lot of work—in Jordan’s words, the glitter “just falls out of the barrels. But who cares?” she says. “It’s fun and exciting and it’s a really great way to get kids excited.”
Sam Hobish, a designer at Autodesk, is working with Jordan to help her make her project come to life and make it as good as possible. He has also helped the girl create an articulated arm that can do other, more useful things.
Reeves, who wants to help spread joy and happiness to those around her, also hopes to develop a 3D accessible prosthetic that she can use on a more regular basis, such as to hold a cell phone and help her parents with daily household chores.
