Case 001 · October 2024
K.
Philippines
An 11-year-old boy who lost his right arm to electrocution, and the very first case Laila ever took on.
Philippines
An 11-year-old boy who lost his right arm to electrocution, and the very first case Laila ever took on.
K. was my first case. A message came in through e-NABLE from someone named Miggy, a friend of his who'd been looking for a volunteer in the Philippines for months and couldn't find one. K. was 11. He'd lost his right arm after being electrocuted.
I didn't know which design would fit him best. His residual limb was short, and I had no way to predict how much grip strength he'd have. So I built two completely different arms: a gold Kinetic Arm and a blue Alfie Arm, different mechanisms, different fits, and shipped them together so he'd have a real choice.
Nothing about this was routine. I walked K.'s family through measurements over messages, arm tracings on paper, photos held up against a wall tape measure, and tried to translate all of it into 3D parameters I'd never tested before. Communication ran across time zones, sometimes through translators, and a Manila typhoon delayed the signed consent forms by weeks.
The package left New York in late October 2024 and reached Muntinlupa City about ten days later. Miggy wrote to say it arrived and looked super cool.
A few weeks after that, the photos came through. K. was wearing the gold arm. In one video, he was dancing in the hallway.
Every arm starts with measurements taken at home, guided by my instructions. I ask for arm tracings on paper, multiple angle photos, and careful tape measurements. It's how I calibrate a 3D model for someone I've never met, on the other side of the world.
The Kinetic Arm is made from dozens of individually printed pieces, forearm shell, palm, five fingers, wrist joint, socket, cover, all in gold and black PLA. Once everything's printed, I thread tensioner cord through the hand: each finger connects back to the wrist, so when K. bends his wrist, his fingers close. Below is what that process looked like.
The gold arm K. chose is the Kinetic Arm. The design had only been released about three weeks before I built it, almost no real-world documentation yet on how it performed at this scale. I built the Alfie Arm at the same time so he'd have a genuine choice. The gold-and-black finish was his pick.
"K. loves the gold arm. It is so much lighter than the first one, and fits perfectly. We are so thankful we found you, a super great and talented 3D printer engineer!"
, Miggy, Philippines · January 2025
When the photos came back, K. was grinning. He was holding a water bottle with the arm. He'd used it to hold his phone. He wore it out of the office. In the video below, he's dancing in the hallway, that's the one that got me.
He chose the gold arm right away. The Alfie Arm didn't generate enough grip for his shorter residual limb. The Kinetic Arm did.
K. wearing the Kinetic Arm for the first time. November 17, 2024
A few weeks after the first shipment, Miggy told me the arm was fitting well but running about an inch or two long. K. would probably grow into it, but it wasn't ideal right now. I built a smaller version, 62.5% scale instead of 67.5%, and sent it as a follow-up.
That third arm went out in December 2024 and arrived in January 2025. Miggy said it was lighter than the first one and fit perfectly.
K. trying the third arm, January 2025
K. was the case that made everything real. Before him, I had a printer and a set of CAD files. After, I had a first case I was still thinking about months later.
He taught me to build two arms when I'm unsure, because a wrong fit shipped to the Philippines can't be corrected quickly. He taught me to stay in the conversation after the package arrives. And he reminded me that the person on the other end is an 11-year-old who just wants to hold things and move through the world.
When K. grows big enough for a new arm, I'll make him one.