--- title: Marvel, Star Wars Inspired Prosthetics for Kids Could Soon Be Available description: A start-up has worked with Disney to create a whole range for children canonical: https://time.com/4071640/disney-is-helping-to-make-awesome-star-wars-inspired-prosthetics-for-kids/ author: Melissa Locker article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-10-15T14:29:42.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:25:57.013Z og:title: Marvel, Star Wars Inspired Prosthetics for Kids Could Soon Be Available og:description: A start-up has worked with Disney to create a whole range for children og:url: https://time.com/4071640/disney-is-helping-to-make-awesome-star-wars-inspired-prosthetics-for-kids/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Marvel, Star Wars Inspired Prosthetics for Kids Could Soon Be Available twitter:description: A start-up has worked with Disney to create a whole range for children twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Disney Is Helping a Start-Up Make Awesome _Star Wars_\-Inspired Prosthetics For Kids by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Oct 15, 2015 2:29 PM UTC by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Oct 15, 2015 2:29 PM UTC A British start-up, [Open Bionics](https://twitter.com/openbionics), has teamed up with Disney to dramatically change the lives of young amputees and children born without hands by making enviable prosthetics. Instead of replacing missing arms or hands with industrial prosthetics, the company is crafting new limbs worthy of Iron Man or Elsa from _Froze_n, and a glowing “lightsaber hand” that buzzes just like the ones in _Star Wars_. “The power of these prosthetics is that the public perception is completely different. All of a sudden they’re not being asked how they lost their hand, they’re being asked where they got their cool robot hand,” said Open Bionics founder Joel Gibbard [speaking to _The Independent_.](http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/prosthetic-hands-how-disney-teamed-up-with-a-bristol-based-bionics-firm-to-transform-childrens-lives-a6689176.html) “What might have been perceived as their greatest weakness is seen as their greatest strength.” > [](https://twitter.com/openbionics/status/653719864755027968) The prosthetics don’t just look cool, though. They also provide working, functional limbs to children while monitoring the child’s muscle development and helping them build up strength and dexterity and giving caretakers, parents, and doctors much-needed biofeedback. Through the [Disney’s Techstars Accelerator program](http://disneyaccelerator.com/companies/), the company gained access to the designers who actually worked on Iron Man, _Frozen_, and _Star Wars: The Force Awakens_. Pairing their bionic know-how with Disney’s designs has translated into incredible real-world benefits for kids. Open Bionics has been able to keep their costs low thanks to a deal with Disney giving them royalty-free licensing. After all even the coolest prosthetic in this galaxy or one far, far away, isn’t very helpful if its priced out of reach. Open Bionics hopes to have the product on the market by the end of next year for less than $3,000 each. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4071640/disney-is-helping-to-make-awesome-star-wars-inspired-prosthetics-for-kids/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4071640/disney-is-helping-to-make-awesome-star-wars-inspired-prosthetics-for-kids/"},"headline":"Disney Is Helping a Start-Up Make Awesome Star Wars-Inspired Prosthetics For Kids","datePublished":"2015-10-15T14:29:42.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:25:57.013Z","description":"A start-up has worked with Disney to create a whole range for children","url":"https://time.com/4071640/disney-is-helping-to-make-awesome-star-wars-inspired-prosthetics-for-kids/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Children","Star Wars topic","Marvel","Tech"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Melissa Locker","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4071640/disney-is-helping-to-make-awesome-star-wars-inspired-prosthetics-for-kids/","name":"Disney Is Helping a Start-Up Make Awesome Star Wars-Inspired Prosthetics For Kids"}}]}] ```