Episode 7 · Easton LaChappelle, age 14 — Mancos, Colorado
The Kid Who Gave The World a Hand
He built a robotic hand out of LEGO, fishing line and tubing. Then he met a girl whose prosthetic arm cost $80,000.
13 min listen · ages 8-10
The Kid Who Gave The World a Hand
Summary
Easton LaChappelle was a bored fourteen-year-old in a small Colorado town when he taught himself to build a robotic hand from LEGO, fishing line and electrical tubing. At a science fair he met a young girl with a prosthetic arm that cost $80,000 — and decided that number was wrong. He kept building in his bedroom until a 3D printer, an Arduino and about $250 worth of parts produced an arm good enough for the White House and an internship at NASA.
The Story
Mancos, Colorado, is small. Easton LaChappelle had twenty-three kids in his eighth-grade class. What he did have was the internet, a lot of curiosity, and a bedroom he was willing to fill with wire.
In 2010, at fourteen, he built a robotic hand out of LEGO pieces, fishing line for tendons and electrical tubing for fingers, controlled by a glove he wired himself. He taught himself programming, electronics and 3D modelling by reading and failing and reading again.
He took it to the Colorado State Science Fair and placed third. That wasn't the important part. The important part was a young girl he met there, born without an arm, wearing a prosthetic that could do one thing — open and close — and had cost her family around $80,000.
Easton went home and started over. He got a 3D printer for his sixteenth birthday and rebuilt the arm in printed plastic driven by model-airplane motors and an Arduino board. Total cost: about $250. He even rigged a version controlled by a brainwave headset.
In 2013 he was invited to the White House Science Fair. The arm broke shortly before President Obama reached his table. Obama shook the broken hand anyway. NASA offered him an internship on the Robonaut team at Johnson Space Center.
He turned down college scholarships. In February 2014, after a phone call with Tony Robbins, he founded a company called Unlimited Tomorrow to make the arm real for everyone. Its prosthetic, TrueLimb, is scanned remotely and printed to fit — no clinic visit — for a fraction of the traditional price.
In 2017 he fitted a young girl named Momo Sutton with one of his hands. She made a fist, bumped his, and gave the world an A-OK sign with fingers she'd never had before. Easton was still barely out of his teens.
Timeline
2010
At fourteen, Easton builds a robotic hand from LEGO, fishing line and electrical tubing.
2011–2012
At the Colorado State Science Fair he places third — and meets a girl with an $80,000 prosthetic arm.
2012
A 3D printer for his sixteenth birthday lets him rebuild the arm for around $250.
2013
White House Science Fair: the arm breaks, and President Obama shakes its hand anyway. NASA offers him a Robonaut internship.
2014
He skips college and founds Unlimited Tomorrow to make affordable prosthetics.
2017
He fits young Momo Sutton with a printed robotic hand — fist bump included.
2020
TrueLimb launches: remotely scanned, custom-printed prosthetic arms at a fraction of the usual cost.
Key Takeaways
- ✓A price tag that seems unfair is a problem you're allowed to try to solve.
- ✓You can teach yourself engineering with library books, the internet and a lot of patience.
- ✓Things breaking — even in front of a president — is part of building, not the end of it.
- ✓The best inventions start with meeting the person who needs them.
Fun Facts
Photos & Field Notes
Sources
Southern Utah University News, "Teen Innovator Easton LaChappelle to Speak at Big Event" (2015)
The LEGO, fishing-line and tubing hand, the science-fair encounter and the $80,000 prosthetic figure.
Kids Discover Online, "Teen Inventor Easton LaChappelle Reaches for the Future"
Mancos background, the Colorado State Science Fair, the $250 build cost, the White House fair and the NASA Robonaut internship.
Science News Explores, "'Cool' research for the president" (2013)
The arm breaking before President Obama's arrival — and the handshake anyway.
Microsoft News, "High-fives all around as young inventor fits girl with a robotic hand" (2017)
Bedroom tinkering, model-airplane motors and the Momo Sutton fitting.
CNBC Make It, "Tony Robbins: 23-year-old Easton LaChappelle is the next Elon Musk" (2018)
The 3D printer for his sixteenth birthday, the Tony Robbins call and the founding of the company.
The Hill, "Is this 3D-printed robotic arm the future of prosthetics?" (2022)
Unlimited Tomorrow's 2014 founding and the TrueLimb launch and pricing.
Engineering.com and New Atlas coverage (2013–2015)
The Arduino robotic arm, the $250 parts breakdown and the brainwave-headset control system.
Transcript
HostMancos, Colorado. Twenty-three kids in the eighth grade. One of them is about to build a robot hand out of LEGO.
HostAt a science fair, Easton meets a girl with a prosthetic arm that does one thing and cost eighty thousand dollars.
EastonThat number felt wrong. So I went home and kept building.
HostTwo years later, a printed arm for about two hundred and fifty dollars — and NASA on the phone.
Full transcript continues in the show notes.
Related Episodes
EP 08 13 minMikaila Ulmer, age 4 — Austin, Texas
The Kid Who Put the Bee In Business
She got stung by a bee twice in one week. Instead of running away, she went into business with them.
EP 06 20 minLouis Braille, age 15 — Coupvray & Paris, France
The Kid Who Re-Invented Reading
He lost his sight at three. By fifteen he had invented an entirely new way for the world to read.
EP 04 18 minRichard Turere, age 13 — Kitengela, Kenya
The Kid Who Outsmarted Lions
He loved his family's cows — and hated what came looking for them after dark. Then he had an idea nobody saw coming.