Easton LaChappelle: 3D-printed robotic prosthetic arm; later TrueLimb
3D-printed robotic prosthetic arm; later TrueLimb.
LaChappelle built his first robotic hand from Lego, fishing line and electrical tubing at 14. At a science fair he met a seven-year-old girl wearing an US$80,000 prosthetic she would outgrow within a year, and the project changed direction: a 3D-printed arm driven by muscle signals that a family could actually afford. The design took him to the White House Science Fair in 2013.
He released the teenage design as open source, then founded Unlimited Tomorrow in 2014. Its TrueLimb, launched in 2020, is scanned and printed to each user's limb and sold at roughly US$8,000 against tens of thousands for conventional bionic arms.
IP note
Unlimited Tomorrow portfolio: US 10,940,026 (2021), US 11,364,131 (2022), US 11,974,857 (2024), 2025–26 haptic-glove filings; teen design open-sourced.
Recognition
White House Science Fair 2013; Forbes 30 Under 30.
What this means for a student inventor in India
[Editor: 120–200 words connecting this story to the Indian route — Section 6 (any true inventor may apply), provisional vs complete specification, disclosure at fairs (Section 31), renewals, and who owns what when a school is involved. Link to the relevant MYCrave guide.]
Related young innovators
- Shalini Kumari — Stair-climbing walker with adjustable front legs
- Arsh Shah Dilbagi — TALK
- Ryan Patterson — Sign-language finger-spelling glove
Sources
[Editor: list the 2–4 primary sources from the research notes for this entry, with the date checked.]
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