JAMES YOUNG
After losing an arm and a leg in a rail accident in 2012, the 25-year-old Londoner had taught himself to use a video-game controller with one hand and his teeth. “How many amputee gamers can there be?” he asked himself.
In the end, more than 60 people replied to the ad, which was looking for a games-mad amputee to become the recipient of a bespoke high-tech prosthetic arm inspired by Metal Gear Solid, one of the world’s best-selling computer games. Designed and built by a team of 10 experts led by London-based prosthetic sculptor Sophie de Oliveira Barata, the £60,000 carbon-fibre limb is part art project, part engineering marvel.
For Mr Young, who unveiled the new prosthetic on Saturday at BodyHacking Con 2016, a conference in Texas devoted to “human augmentation”, the synthetic limb is likely to be life-changing, both in terms of its functionality and the levels of attention it will bring him. “I’ll be on stage in Texas talking about it,” he said before boarding his flight to the United States. “That will be a different level of attention – I’ll have to get used to it.”
The limb is fitted with a 3D-printed hand that is controlled by sensors that detect minute muscle movements in Mr Young’s back. Designed by Bristol firm Open Bionics, it is substantially more dextrous than the rudimentary NHS prosthetic he acquired following his accident.
Although he was fascinated by the project, Mr Young didn’t want to end up looking like a sci-fi “killing machine” or becoming a walking, talking advertisement for a computer game – a kind of cyborg billboard. Fortunately, Ms de Oliveira Barata and Konami, the game’s publisher, didn’t want him to be.
“Once I had read a great line which stuck in my head on a website where a prosthetic user said ‘I want to take off my limb and leave it in a room, and people will recognise it and know that belongs to me. It reflects part of my personality’. I totally connected with that idea as a biologist, knowing that all parts of our bodies can be recognised as being ours by our unique DNA, so why not add a personal stamp to our artificial limbs.”
The Inspiration
Mr Young, an account executive at a medical communications company, admits he has little in common with Snake, a tough-as-guts former Green Beret who is fluent in six languages and specialises in solo spying missions. But the young Londoner was familiar with Metal Gear Solid’s retro-futuristic aesthetic. During his rehabilitation he spent hours using a games console, learning to use the controller with one hand, his chin and, occasionally, his teeth.
The Artist
Ms de Oliveira Barata, who has created a series of artistic prosthetics including a crystal-studded leg for the model and amputee Viktoria Modesta, said the idea of a company sponsoring a body part is “clearly a bit tricky.” But, she said, “James’s arm is completely bespoke, and it was really important for all of us that it encapsulated his idea of what he wanted from a prosthetic.”
So, unlike Snake, Mr Young won’t be able to fell an antagonist with a “rocket punch” or an electric shock. His arm is a different colour from the prosthetic featured in the computer game, and its contours are considerably smoother. “I don’t think I’m Snake,” said Mr Young. “Pretty much everyone in his team has had some sort of terrible accident and they’re all very bitter about it and embarking on a big revenge spree. That’s definitely not me.”
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