Erik Finman, a self-made teen millionaire, inspired by Spider-Man uses his money to create a real-life Doctor Octopus prosthetic suit for an 11-year old boy. Finman, after becoming a self-made millionaire by the age of 19, rather than going to college chose to use his wealth for good. In 2018, Finman, at the request of a young boy, build the Doctor Octopus limbs from the Spider-Man comics and movies as a practical prosthetic.
Real-Life Doctor Octopus Suit
Erik Finman is famous across internet circles as the world’s youngest Bitcoin millionaire. In 2011, at age 12, he invested $1,000 in the cryptocurrency, winning himself 100 Bitcoin. As time passed on, Finman was capable to use his profits to finance a different quest, in turn making him even more of the money. By 2017, the cost of a single Bitcoin rose remarkably, and withholding of just over 400 Bitcoin, Finman was worth over $3 million by the age of 18. This was when he chose to use his money for welfare by recreating the Doctor Octopus limbs from Spider-Man as a functional prosthetic.
In a video uploaded on YouTube, thousands of viewers got to see what Finman has recently been using his wealth for; a real-life recreation of the mechanical arms used by the supervillain Doctor Octopus from the Spider-Man comic books and movies. Finman joined hands with a team of engineers to develop these arms, which have been building using 3-D printed and are powered by a set of motors that enables the arms to lift lightweight objects. This suit, though, is not being made for himself, but for 11-year old Aristou Meehan, the son of one of Finman’s mentors who is troubled with hypermobility issues.
The suit was constructed so Meehan could easily command the four limbs using the middle fingers on each hand – connected via the gloves used in the suit. Meehan originally took the idea to Finman, in fact, with the faith that a prosthetic like this would assist relieve some of the difficulties he faces. As of now, Finman has said that the arms are more or less an honored tech demo but believe that they could reach their true potential in the future, with more support and funding.
The potentialities of Finman’s prosthetic limbs could be unlimited. While this seems like the start of the production of a supervillain like so many in the YouTube comment section humorously allude to, the technology used is not as evil. It could open the door for many diverse kinds of prosthetic limbs that are a little more realistic space-wise.
For Meehan, though, being a comic book enthusiast, having this suit is a dream comes true, and he relishes showing it off. It also reveals that technology highlighted in pictures of fiction like comic books or movies may not be too far off from the real world.
