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Virginia Beach man uses 3D printer to change lives

Posted at 12:00 AM, Aug 21, 2016
and last updated 2016-08-21 00:01:04-04

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. - It looks just like any other house in Virginia Beach, but inside, Justin Brawley is changing people's lives.

To do that, he uses $40 worth of plastic, a 3D printer and his imagination.

"I'm bored, it's something to keep me occupied," Brawley laughed.

He's now creating prosthetic arms and hands right from his own home.

"I started off trying to make a robot, but I didn't have enough time so I just did the hand," he said.

It didn't take long to realize just that hand could change someone's life.

"Even if I accomplished something myself, like beating my personal record at weight lifting or something, it's not the same feeling you get when you see you did something like that for somebody," Brawley said.

Finger by finger, connected by wires and sensors, Justin has perfected his hobby.

The prosthetic hand moves with muscle sensors, and he's even working on a speech recognition sensor that you can use with a tablet or phone.

He described what you can do with the hands.

"Your every day life--read, write, type,  drink, pick up small packages, open a door, a small package."

So far, Justin has given away three hands.

One of the people he gave a prosthetic to lives in Canada. He video chatted with him to see how the hand is working.

"The smile on his face when he picks something up, you can't get that feeling from anyone," he said.

If you're wondering how much they cost...well, the answer is nothing.

He does it for free.

"What are you helping if you make money off of it? If they don't have them right now, they can't afford them. So why make money off them?"

But what he does get in return is a feeling he can't describe -- the feeling of changing someone's life with his own two hands.

"It will make a man cry, I’ll tell you that. It will make a grown man cry," he said.