You know how when you somehow forget to charge your phone overnight, or you plug it in but you have a brain fart and forget to plug the charger into the wall? You know that sinking feeling that your day is just gunna be real shit when you wake up and realise you’ve actually got 5% battery and a full day ahead? Ok now think about that feeling, and imagine you’ve forgotten to charge a bionic limb.
Angel Giuffria, and actress and cosplayer who is currently over in Austin, Texas for the tech side of South By South West (SXSW), has a bionic prosthetic arm that needs charging overnight so she can use it while she’s out and about. She realised one morning before a panel that she’d forgotten to plug her arm in overnight to charge up, and so she was stuck in a tech panel with a dead arm – literally.
Calling it a ‘cyborg problem’, which is cute as hell, Angel needed somewhere to plug herself in so she could, y’know, have an arm again.
#CYBORGPROBLEMS! You know when you think you plug your phone in at night – & you didn’t. Well, apparently I did that w my #bionic arm last night SO a courier is bringing my arm charger to #SXSW #Ottobock pic.twitter.com/pauiLwILV8
— Angel Giuffria 🦾 (@aannggeellll) March 10, 2018
She ended up finding an available socket up the back of the room, but not after many others who were charging their phones wouldn’t give up their powerpoint for her to plug in. Now please correct me here but I think having a working arm might be a little bit more important than having a fully-charged phone because a phone is pretty fucking useless if your arm’s not working, right?
(Yes I’m aware that people use phones without arms all the time, but these – I assume – able-bodied people probably didn’t need to juice their phones up immediately)
Angel had to get in touch with the hotel she was staying at to retrieve the charger from her room so it could get couriered over to her at the conference, where she hooked her arm up for a couple of hours so she could have use of it again.
#CyborgProblems🤖 FYI: People at this @SXSW panel refused to give up charging their phones so I could charge my arm 🙃✨ but I found an outlet in the back of the room so CHARGE ME UP. pic.twitter.com/RYosq8MwN2
— Angel Giuffria 🦾 (@aannggeellll) March 10, 2018
People on social media that also have bionic prosthetics have shared their experiences with Angel, including this guy who ripped a hole in his pants one time so he could charge up his leg.
In posting my charging at #SXSW post (& a lot of my posts), I just want people to see a different way of existing; the way #amputee(s) & those w prostheses live that you may not have considered. Comments like this remind me it’s important to continue on🤖 #CyborgProblems pic.twitter.com/Ly5ra2nRv3
— Angel Giuffria 🦾 (@aannggeellll) March 15, 2018
And yes, Angel answered all the questions about how her incredible arm works.
Fair question: Surface electrodes on my resudual limb inside my socket pick up muscle impulses allowing me to control the hand/wrist/device so they did battery power to function. https://t.co/GPPNogj5CF
— Angel Giuffria 🦾 (@aannggeellll) March 13, 2018
Angel’s using all the attention to her arm and her forgetfulness to champion others, like 12-year-old Jordan Reeves who created and built her own unicorn-like prosthetic that shoots glitter. I love this child so much.
While the internet loses its crap about how attendees didn’t share a plug for @aannggeellll’s cool arm, I want to thanks the many attendees who cheered on the girl and her fun unicorn prosthetic – especially Angel! pic.twitter.com/WRzFJVdmG3
— Jen Lee Reeves (she/her) (@jenleereeves) March 13, 2018
Ahh this whole story rules. Technology and science, it’s just the best.
