Dressed as bionics expert Tony Stark, actor Robert Downey Jr. waited in a hotel room with a special surprise for a young fan. 7-year-old Alex, who was born with a partially developed right arm, was led into the room and introduced to “Stark”.
Downey opened two boxes, one with a movie-prop version of his bionic arm, the other with Alex’s new, working 3D-printed bionic limb, developed by Albert Manero.
Alex recognized the actor and called him both “Iron Man” and “Robert.” Downey Jr. looked like he was about to burst with joy.
Manero is a college student and founder of Limbitless Solutions, which develops affordable 3D-printed artificial limbs. Downey described the limbs as being for “families with kids who want to show the playground how badass they are.”
“I’m probably going to start farming out a lot of my tech work to Albert, too,” Downey jokes. “I feel like he could cut the price point down on one of my suits, which is right now, I don’t know, about a billion and a half dollars.”
Can’t resist more pics from the #CollectiveProject. Special thx to Albert Manero, @MSOneNote, & @Marvel. #Limbitlesspic.twitter.com/SvSDwMNz20
— Robert Downey Jr (@RobertDowneyJr) March 12, 2015