FOUR years ago, when London resident James Young suffered a freak accident that left him with an “ugly peach-colored and obvious” prosthetic arm and leg, little did he know that he would soon become “part cyborg” in a one-of-a-kind experiment that would give him a prototype bionic arm. His new, futuristic-looking arm feels realistic, and in some ways is even better than a real one. It comes equipped with several cool features like a torch, a USB port, a laser light, and even a drone.

Young’s life would never be the same after that fateful day in May 2012, when he was about to board a Docklands Light Railway train in East London. He happened to be walking too close to the platform when he extended his arm to push the button to open the doors, and the momentum of the moving train made him spin and lose balance. He slipped and fell between two carriages. Young has no memory of the incident, but he’s been able to piece everything together using CCTV footage.

Young was then airlifted to the Royal London Hospital where he was kept in an induced coma for 12 days. His left arm was badly damaged, while his left leg was severed below the knee during the accident. Eventually, surgeons were forced to amputate his arm.

After spending nearly four months in the hospital, Young was discharged with a standard issue NHS prosthetic arm and leg, with a hook instead of a hand. Although these were better than having no arm or leg, Young found it extremely difficult to go about his daily life.

Sophie, creator of the Alternative Limb Project has previously worked on special effects for films. Along with a team of 10 experts, she created a US$87,000 bespoke, battery-operated prosthetic device for Young, consisting of a metal arm and an attached plastic articulated hand that can be controlled by the muscles in his shoulders. Sensors, attached to the skin of his shoulders to detect muscle signals, are connected to a harness that he wears across his upper body. The entire contraption operates seamlessly, getting as close to a human arm as currently possible. While Sophie designed the aesthetics of the device, a company called Open Bionics made the actual hand using a 3-D printer.

Using the new hand, Young is now able to pick up tiny objects like coins, along with performing countless other everyday tasks with ease. “It gives me a hand — and not a device,” he said. “It’s soft, but firm, so it’s really nice to shake!” What’s more, the arm incorporates a ton of other cool features — a USB port for him to charge his phone, a built-in watch, a torch to help him navigate in the dark, a drone fitted on a panel outside of the shoulder, and even a laser light for special effects. (SD-Agencies)