Here is the full story from CNN,
"Robert Downey Jr. may be Iron Man in the popular Marvel
superhero films, but he recently dealt in some advanced bionic technology
himself.
Downey recently presented a robotic arm to young Alex Pring,
a Central Florida boy who is missing his right arm from just above his elbow.
The arm was made by Limbitless Solutions, a volunteer group started by Albert
Manero, a University of Central Florida engineering PhD student, to make free
bionic arms for kids.
Through 3-D printing technology, Alex and others have had
the chance to get a robotic arm so they can use their limbs again. Alex
received his robotic arm in the summer, then later had it upgraded to resemble
a "Transformers" arm.
This past Saturday, Alex received an even more impressive
gift, from "Tony Stark" himself. Downey met with Alex in an Atlanta
hotel room.
The actor showed the child two arms, one from Downey's
movies and one for Alex: a real, working robotic Iron Man arm. As they both
tried theirs on, they compared the lights inside their palms.
The video was posted Thursday by Downey as well as
Microsoft, which arranged the meeting as part of its social media campaign, The
Collective Project, celebrating students using technology to change the world.
It very quickly went viral on social media.
Post by Robert Downey Jr.
Alex is 7, in first grade and a huge superhero fan. His mom
told him they were going to Atlanta to meet Manero and a specialist who were
working on a new arm for the boy.
"He didn't question it much, so we kind of just went
with it," his mom, Alyson Pring, told CNN. "Afterward, I asked, 'Why
were you so quiet?' He said, 'I was freaking out!' "
After giving him the new arm, Downey invited Alex to hang
out with him in Atlanta this summer when he's filming the new Captain America
movie.
Manero met Alex through E-Nable, a volunteer network that
matches people who have 3-D printers with children who need limbs. Alex's mom
wanted to get him a replacement hand because he was being teased.
"Whenever people saw him, they'd say, 'What's wrong
with your arm?' " Alyson Pring said. "Now it's, 'Your arm is amazing,
you're so cool ... it helps educate people to maybe think twice before saying
something like, 'Why are you like that'?"
The prop master for the Marvel movies built the case for
Downey Jr.'s arm and the case for the little boy's arm. The college students
made the actual arm for Pring, from the design to the painting to the robotics,
said David Beauparlant, marketing manager at Microsoft.
"You couldn't even do this stuff not too long ago. It's
amazing what the 3-D printing can do," he said."
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