Invention: Sun Jifa, lost both his hands when a bomb he was creating for blast fishing in Guanmashan, Jilin province, northern China, exploded prematurely A man who lost both hands when a homemade bomb exploded has finally created a new pair of arms after eight years of planning. Sun Jifa could not afford the hospital’s prosthetic limbs after the explosive for blast fishing detonated prematurely, but desperately needed the use of his hands to work on the family farm. That’s when the 51-year-old from Guanmashan, Jilin province, northern China, decided to create his own bionic hands.
Determined: The 51-year-old spent eight years making his bionic hand ‘I survived but I had no hands and I couldn’t afford to buy the false hands the hospital wanted me to have – so I decided to make my own,’ he explained. Sun spent eight years making prototypes before finally creating a pair of metal hands which can grip and hold thanks to a series of wires and pulleys inside the shell. ‘I control them with movements from my elbows and I can work, love normally and feed myself just like anyone else,’ explained the real life tin man.
Idea: ‘I survived but I had no hands and I couldn’t afford to buy the false hands the hospital wanted me to have – so I decided to make my own,’ he explained
Difficulty: The only drawback is that steel is quite heavy so they’re tiring to wear and get hot or cold in the extremes of summer and winter, said Sun ‘The only drawback is that steel is quite heavy so they’re tiring to wear and get hot or cold in the extremes of summer and winter,’ added Sun. Now he plans to develop the design for other similarly disabled people. ‘I made this from scrap metal for virtually nothing. There is no need to pay hospitals a fortune,’ he said.
