A man who was born without a fully developed arm has built himself one using Lego.
In fact by the age of 18, David had made multiple versions of the prosthetic.
He built his first one at the age of nine.
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“I built it around my hand, it started [off as] being a boat,” David, who is also known as Hand Solo, told Great Big Story in 2018.
But the Lego bricks were not strong enough.
It would be another nine years before he would attempt it again, this time out of Lego Technic.
Lego Technic is a line of products that uses interconnecting plastic rods and parts to build more complex models.
This time David made the MK1, named after the Iron Man suit of Marvel fame, in just five days.
“I can do push-ups with this thing so it’s quite strong,” he said.
David wanted to upgrade some of its features, so along came the MK2.
It has a battery that “works like a bicep”, he says, and it gives him the ability to move his prosthetic arm up and down by himself.
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He’s built more versions following the MK2.
David was born with Poland syndrome, which is a disease that stopped his right arm and pectoral muscle from forming.
He was a victim of bullying at school and said his “refuge was Lego”.
“Building a boat at the age of nine, I put it close to my arm and realized that the most surprising and useful thing I could build myself was precisely what I didn’t have, an arm,” David said.
“At 17 and dismantling a helicopter, I made my first functional prosthesis that my father made known to the whole world, winning a Guinness Record among many other international recognitions.”
David holds the record for “first functional LEGO® prosthetic arm”.
