It is a description that defines 14-year-old Tilly Lockey: She lost her hands at the age of 15 months, and now uses bionic hands to show the world how to overcome disability.
That could easily read as an advertisement for a prosthetics company, but Tilly refuses to be defined by marketing messages. She has not only embraced what is supposed to be a disability, but wants to become nothing less than an ambassador to the future.
That is in effect what she is achieving by pushing the boundaries of what is possible with artificial hands. It means that, eventually, she will have more capabilities built into her body than most able-bodied humans can imagine. She collaborates closely with Open Bionics, a start-up that is using 3D printing to create low-cost prosthetics with high-tech capabilities.
“I have very high hopes for the future,” she said during a chat on the sidelines of the SingularityU Summit at Kyalami north of Johannesburg. From Newcastle-on-Tyne in the United Kingdom, she was at the Summit as a guest speaker, chaperoned by her father Adam and sister Tia.
“When I started working with Open Bionics, I wanted it to include lighting, music, Bluetooth, a projector in my palm, all over-optimistic things. But then I feel that is not too far away, and then a disability would turn into and enhancement of normal human hands. I’m really excited about it.
“I know there’s a couple of things they are working on right now, like trying to get the built-in battery thinner, because it’s hard to get overcoats and jackets over it, so they are trying to get the hands slimmer. They’re working on haptic feedback, to give a sense of touch of vibration, which tells me of I have a good grip on something. It could be coming soon. These hands I’m using now were made in the past five years. In another five years, I think we’ll have all of it.”
The hands in question are called Hero Arms, which its creators, Open Bionics, say is “the world’s first clinically approved 3D-printed bionic arm, with multi-grip functionality and empowering aesthetics”.
Click here to read more about the development of Open Bionics’s Hero Arms.
Developed in Bristol in the UK, the Hero Arm is a “lightweight and affordable myoelectric prosthesis”, available for below-elbow amputee adults and children aged eight and above. Functionality includes grabbing, pinching, high-fives, fist bumps, and a thumbs-up – a function Tilly uses constantly to underline her optimistic worldview.
As Open Bionics puts it, “Welcome to the future, where disabilities are superpowers.” And this, says Tilly, is just the beginning.
“If this is what they have developed in five years, if you think forward a decade, it will be absolutely insane. Only a decade ago I was wearing literally just a loop, and 10 years later I have 3D-printed Hero Arms. Ten years down the line I think I’ll have jetpacks. I can’t wait for people to walk around with bionics because it is an enhancement and looks cool. That is definitely going to be the future.”
Surprisingly, in a world where teenagers are typecast as demanding instant gratification, she is not impatient for this future.
“It’s really fun building up to future, talking about what we can do, and where we can start now. We’re already in talks about different models. I have some with lights in; it is available. All these little changes are going to keep building up until, in the end, they are better than human arms. I’m excited for that but not impatient, because I’m working on what we are doing now.”
She is no passive consumer of the technology either.
“Open Bionics really believe in co-design. They can build it but can’t test it. So it’s up to users to give honest feedback. One thing I did invent that I’m proud of that I use on a daily basis is the freeze mode. If I’m holding something tight, because its muscle-operated, it could trigger a false sense, like shivering, and if you’re holding a glass bowl, it smashes. So we said is there any way we could get the hand stuck and not change.
“Now how it works is when you’re squeezing something, you hold a button down, it beeps and turns blue, then no matter what you do with your muscles, the fingers don’t open until you press the button again. It gives amputees and users of Hero Arms extra control, so it’s a practical invention.”
Click here to read about the science fiction that inspires Tilly.
Tilly is deeply inspired by the movie Alita: Battle Angel, which combines live actors with a computer-generated cyborg heroine. Alita is continually augmented as she learns her powers, but it is her sheer determination that wins the day.
“The movie was advertised on my school bus and whenever I saw it, I said, aha, there’s me, even before I knew I was getting Hero Arms. She is such an amazing character, very strong-minded.
“I’m always proving to myself I’m a very determined person. I have been ever since I was 3 or 4. I remember being in a room with my mam, and I thought because I had no hands, I couldn’t open the door myself. I asked my mam, and she told me no, I could do it by myself, all I have to do is try. So I opened door, and she says she could never forget the look on my face. I realised I could sit back, or take charge and do things for myself.
“I am still now proving all the doctors wrong. They first said I won’t live, never mind walk. Then they said I would not walk, I’d be paralysed. Then they said I’d never play piano. So I got a piano and started doing piano lessons. It doesn’t matter if you got disabled, you can still do it, as long as you know what you want to do and have got the mindset, the determination, you can do it.”
Read more in the second article of the series about how Tilly became a hero.
- Arthur Goldstuck is founder of World Wide Worx and editor-in-chief of Gadget.co.za. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram on @art2gee
- Follow Tilly Lockey on Social Media at: Twitter (@GiveTillyaHand), Instagram (@tilly.lockey), and YouTube.