Easton LaChappelle was 14 years old when he designed and built his first robotic arm. Ten years later, he's now the CEO of his own company, looking to upend the prosthetics industry. Unlimited Tomorrow recently started taking orders for TrueLimb, its customized, 3D-printed robotic arm. TrueLimb candidates scan their limbs using a 3D-scanner at home with the help of a friend or family member.

By the end of the First World War, there was no shortage of amputees. Of the seven million British soldiers deployed, 41,000 had amputations in field hospitals or medical facilities behind the lines. Prosthetic limbs had existed for hundreds of years before the War, but the sudden influx overwhelmed medical services on all sides. And even with the return to rudimentary mobility offered by a prosthetic leg, one thing remained with amputee veterans: shame.

​Nicky Ashwell was born without her right hand, but that’s never held her back. By Victoria Turk. (Oct. 25, 2016)

Katelyn Vincik was born without a fully formed left arm. For more than a year she was on a waitlist to get a functioning prosthetic arm until the Harris County Public Library, Texas made her a prosthetic arm on a 3D printer. In an interview with Click2Huston, Kimberly Vincik, Katelyn’s mother said her daughter has always been a determined girl, and she kept on asking the same question like when her hand will get fixed by the doctors.

When Yukako Fukushima holds the finger to the light, there is a brief moment when it is indistinguishable from her own, real, digits. Nothing about it screams fake. To the untrained eye, it is flawless. Soon it will be ready for collection by its new owner, one of hundreds of hardened gangsters who have sliced off their pinkies in a ritual show of contrition, and who owe their exit from the underworld and return to mainstream society to Fukushima’s prosthetics.

Disney Teams Up With Open Bionics To Make Cool 3D Prosthetics For Kids

Thomas Thwaites is currently investigating what it might be like to live as a goat. He commissioned prosthetics for his arms and legs so that he could walk, as comfortably as possible, on all fours. He considered constructing an artificial rumen that would digest grass for him to consume, using actual gut bacteria found in goats. He consulted with a behavioural expert on goats, and even watched as a goat was dissected, to learn more about the animal he wanted to be.

15 years ago we gave birth to a 4lb 9oz baby boy, I was overjoyed with happiness. I wanted to hold him up to the skies like Simba from the Lion King, but at Wordsley Hospital they’re not that keen for you to do stuff like that, so I settled for the giddiness of being able to buy Star Wars figures for my lad. He was taken away as he was premature. His mum was taken to a ward to recover and I popped in to see my little (very little) lad.