Megafestival hosted some amazing inventors, including the creator of the robotic arm.
Brave New World, the festival of latest technologies that is being held at the co-working space HUB385 in Zagreb, is offering a more optimistic picture of the future. The biggest technological event in this part of Europe has welcomed this year Easton LaChappelle, a 19-year old whose robotic arm invention has brought about a revolution in the prosthetics industry, reports net.hr on June 8, 2016.
The robotic hand is being guided by user’s thoughts. LaChappelle has been taking things apart and putting them together since a very young age, and as a teenager he started building a robotic arm using legos and a 3D printer. His hobby has brought the world an amazing tool that has significantly improved the quality of life of a number of people.
After he met a girl who needed prosthesis, LaChappelle decided to make something better and less expensive compared to what was already available at the time. He used Mindflex, a simple video game which allows players to manage the ball using brainwaves, and adapted the technology incorporating it into the robotic arm. He made this technology accessible on the internet, and anyone who needs prosthesis can get the technology he developed and for 500 dollars make their own prosthesis using a 3D printer.
“I want everyone who does not have an arm to be able to use what I have created”, he explained. LaChappelle now works for NASA and is developing an exoskeleton concept that could help people with paraplegia walk again.
Another guest at the festival, Saba Ghole, said during her speech about the future of education that the education should be different from what it is now and she presented an innovative learning model which should encourage young generations to be creative, innovative and to employ critical thinking.
NuVu, the first high school for innovators that she founded, does not involve the grades. The students are encouraged to create, accept challenges and solve existing problems. “Take the kids out of classrooms and let them invent things”, she pointed out.
One of the most exciting parts of the Brave New World festival will be a 48-hour hackathon that is planned for the next weekend (10 to 12 June).
