Six-year-old Alex Pring beamed while riding his bike Saturday. Thanks to his new βbionic armβ designed by a team of ΒιΆΉΣ³»΄«Γ½ students and alumni, he could grip both handlebars and keep his balance.
Minutes earlier, Alex and his mom, Alyson, sat at the kitchen table at their home near Clermont talking with ABC World News via Skype. Alex proudly showed off how he uses his new prosthetic arm, gripping a ΒιΆΉΣ³»΄«Γ½ Knights football and sword and a Transformer toy.
Alex didnβt take long to get accustomed to his new right arm, and a national audience just as quickly embraced the 6-year-old and the generosity of the ΒιΆΉΣ³»΄«Γ½ students. The team has now posted online the designs for the arm, which they made for just $350. Anyone with access to a 3-D printer and an assortment of off-the-shelf accessories can take the designs and use them to help other children.
βThese students are changing lives, and I canβt wait to see what they do next,β read one comment on The Today Showβs Facebook page.
βThese young engineers who crafted this GIFT for the family are true heroes!β another comment read.
NBC Nightly Newsβ βMaking a Differenceβ segment and ABC World Newsβ βAmerica Strongβ segment both featured Alex and the ΒιΆΉΣ³»΄«Γ½ team on Saturday night. The Today Show aired the story on Saturday morning. Other media featuring Alex’s story include People magazine, the Orlando Sentinel and television stations across the country.
The ΒιΆΉΣ³»΄«Γ½ team is led by Ph.D. student Albert Manero, a Fulbright Scholar who leaves for Germany this week to work for the German Aerospace Center. Manero holds bachelorβs and masterβs degrees from ΒιΆΉΣ³»΄«Γ½ in aerospace engineering.
Joining Manero were 14 other men and women, almost all ΒιΆΉΣ³»΄«Γ½ students and alumni, who provided the expertise and determination necessary to build the arm out of off-the-shelf servos and batteries that are activated by the electromyography muscle energy on Alexβs bicep.
The teamβs youngest member — Tyler Petresky, who just completed his freshman year at ΒιΆΉΣ³»΄«Γ½ — developed the electrical wiring for the arm.
βMy mother taught us that weβre supposed to help change the world,β said Manero,Β who is from the Tampa area. βWeβre committed to helping who we can, and Iβll be working with my team even when in Germany.β
The ΒιΆΉΣ³»΄«Γ½ team also has established the Limbitless Endowed Scholarship at ΒιΆΉΣ³»΄«Γ½ to support future students with disabilities like Alexβs.
To read more about Alexβs arm and to see a full list of the ΒιΆΉΣ³»΄«Γ½ team members, read this ΒιΆΉΣ³»΄«Γ½ Today story published on Friday.