UK teenager gets best gift ever!!
A bionic wanking hand.
F1 Team Gifts UK Boy With State Of The Art Prosthetic Hand
It's not too hard to get our attention here at Maximum Tech. All you need to do is slap a few of our favorite topics – tablets, home theater, Z-Wave technology or robotics, say –[at] together to create a mashup of awesome PB&J-like intensity and we're bound to be drawn like flies. One story this weekend did just that. Top F1 racing team? Check. Bionic hands? Check. A heartwarming story guaranteed to bring a tear to your eye? Double-check. Oh, we're so there.
https://teakdoor.com/images/smilies1/You_Rock_Emoticon.gif
It all started when 14-year-old Matthew James sent a joking letter to the head of the Mercedes GP Petronas F1 racing team with a tongue-in-cheek advertising proposal. You see, Matthew was born without a left hand and he wanted an i-LIMB Pulse prosthetic one – the most advanced prosthetic hand in the world. His proposition: if the Mercedes team ponied up £35,000 for the device, Matthew would allow them to place advertising on it.
The Telegraph (UK) reports that Mercedes, rather than balling up the letter and tossing it in the trash, loved the idea. They teamed up with Touch Bionic to help raise funds and create a customized hand for Matthew – one that plugs into Matthew's arm and detects electrical impulses from the boy. The prosthetic then sends those impulses to a mini computer in the palm of the bionic hand, which then translates those cues into physical reactions. Each finger is powered by an individual motor. It's so versatile that Matthew can catch a ball or tie his shoes with the device.
On Friday, Matthew received his new hand.
"My old artificial hand was not great, it had a pretty basic open close mechanism similar to a clamp," Matthew told the newspaper. "But with this one I can do everything, it is just like the real thing. It is going to make such a big difference to my life. It also looks really cool - the outer-shell is see through so you can actually see the mechanics working. They are even going to put a little Mercedes badge by the wrist."
Maximum Tech's Take: Kudos to the Mercedes team and Touch Bionic for their generous gift! Matthew plans on paying F1 back for the hand in the long run: he wants to end up as an engineer for the racing league.
