Engineers Develop Prosthetic Arm That Allows Girl to Play Violin

Bioengineering students at George Mason University created a prosthetic arm that allows a young girl to play the violin.

The New York Post reports that ten-year-old Isabella Nicola Cabrera was born with no left hand, but thanks to a specialized prosthesis created by a team of bioengineering students at the George Mason University, Cabrera can once again play the violin.

Cabrera’s music teacher and her school had previously built a rudimentary prosthesis that she used successfully for years, but ABC News reports “the prosthetic was heavy.” The instructor contacted the bioengineering students at the George Mason University, where he had graduated from, to see if they could develop something more advanced for the young musician.

Bioengineering students Abdul Gouda, Mona Elkholy, Ella Novoselsky, Racha Salha, and Yasser Alhindi decided to take on designing the prosthetic as a project required of them for their senior year. “It’s sort of a lot of pressure,” Gouda told ABC News. “You’ve got this young girl who’s counting on you and you’re expected to deliver.”

At a test fitting on Thursday, the team of bioengineers also surprised Cabrera with a secondary attachment for the prosthesis which would allow her to ride a bicycle.