This continues my Red Arm / Technical Design study, a practical attempt at finding the best look for my arm. This came after I realized that cosmetic standard issue prostheses make people nervous and that these make people respond to me in stereotypically distressing ways. Rather quickly I found out that the appearance of the prosthetic arm can be instrumental. As there is no theoretical way to establish these, trying out has become my favorite means.
After the Red Arm / Red Hand had worn out a bit, a re-paint appeared to be in order. As you may realize I am currently inspired by the design of 9. So I went to our local Jumbo to check paint colors. And what did my bleary eyes see? Industrial / Functional/Technical Paint! Heat and scratch resistant white glossy coating for heaters. Beige-green anti corrosion coating. And ultra resistant black matte coating for grills.
I was delighted. Here we go :)
We can now see how my first arm design that is now fully industrialized. After about a year of Red Arm wearing, this is very cool.
Becker Lock Grip hand
While we already know this hand, we see it in a new light here. The industrial white heating paint also allows for graceful degradation – i.e., the used up look, the worn down appeal, that is cool rather than just bad.
Becker Imperial hand
While it is shiny brown plastic it has two springs – one of them adjustable – and therefore great grip force. It has extra springs for fingers IV and V and thus an extra adaptive grip.
V2P Prehensor
The V2P knocks the bottom out of hell in terms of sheer grip. But it also shows a cheerfulness in adopting clear rail type power over any concession as to emulating a normal hand that is … refreshing.
This is District 9 style almost all the way. In combination with socket 1 (complex pattern, see above), it’s District 9 *all* the way. And that is just about how it should be.
Responses
The Becker hand and socket yield great responses when painted white. I will get to some more details later.
As I post this, MIT prosthetic research guru Hugh Herr was cited to have said “So why do you anticipate 30 years from now that amputees will give a shit about human beauty? They won’t. Their limbs will be sculptures“. Yes, sure, all nice and sweet, but what does he mean by “will be”? This is freaking happening right now. I’m painting the town blue inasmuch as my prosthetic parts are concerned – and Dan Horkey‘s building sand castles on the beach front of prosthetic appearances.
