Lego Is Helping Kids Make Their Prosthetics Cool

Gen Z will be your business tomorrow – learn who they are now How do you help children to feel normal and accepted in spite of a disability like a missing limb? For Carlos Arturo Torres, a Chicago-based Colombian designer who had a a six-month internship at Lego’s Future Lab, you turn their disability into something cool.At Lego's Future Lab, Torres created a prosthetic arm he called Iko (for kids three to 12) that could be customized with Lego pieces. The battery-operated base that connects to the arm has sensors that can transform muscle movement into the pieces at the end of the arm.Not only did IKO allow the child's prosthetic limb to become a digital spaceship or a cool four-fingered claw, it also allowed him to have agency. With Iko, kids can customize their prosthetic with Legos as they wish.We've seen other cultural signals that aesthetically pleasing or technologically interesting prosthetics are changing the way people see disabilities — both the differently abled person and others around them. Thanks to Torres's innovation, kids went from feeling sorry for the child with the missing limb to wanting his prosthetic. This shift from stigma to pride is part of a trend we call Unapologetic, boldly being oneself without concern about judgement. Gen Z updates daily – Download n2 on the app store now.