10-year-old girl designs her own prosthetic arm


Jordan Reeves was born without her left forearm, but it does not keep her from being adventurous, creative -- and developing her own prosthetic.

Reeves was invited from her home in Columbia, Missouri, to the Superhero Cyborgs workshop in San Francisco, California, in January.

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The workshop was sponsored by 3D printing company Autodesk and hosted by Bay Area design firm Kidmob.

"They reached out to us and basically said we could come and join the workshop for free," Jordan's mother, Jen Lee Reeves, told TODAY.com. "And I said, 'That's funny.' But, no, they really made it possible for us to be there."

At the workshop, Jordan, 10, made a prototype prosthetic that is all her own, complete with glitter shooters.

With the pull of a string, five plastic balloons compress, sending glitter across the room.

"I brought it to school and all my friends were like, 'Wow, that's really cool. I wish I could shoot sparkles from my arm,'" Jordan said.

WBIR reported that Jordan calls the project, "Project Unicorn," which comes with Jordan's superhero alter ego, "Girl Blaster."

On a day-to-day basis, Jordan uses traditional prosthetics to help her complete everyday tasks, but her gadget continues to be developed through weekly Google hangouts with her design partner, Sam Hobish, who works at Autodesk.

"We're trying to see if we can make some functional adjustments to one particular design so that Jordan can have some elbow and finger motion," Hobish said. "This will make shooting a basketball and holding a cellphone far easier."

"Right now, we are improving the glitter, and the whole thing's going to be re-attachable (to the prosthetic)," Jordan said.

David Rotter, a certified prosthetist who has worked with Jordan since she was 3, has volunteered to help Hobish with the design of the arm.

Reeves said in her blog, Born Just Right, that Jordan will present the refined version of her prosthetic in May.