Kiambu Form Four leavers build bionic arm helping people with disabilities

Enthusiastic about robotics and engineering, David Gathu and Moses Kiuna’s place of work is a pure mess! Littered with all kinds of e-waste, the two are assembling gadgets that only top scientists can dream of.

The only difference is that they don’t use the most advanced raw materials to sustain their innovations. Theirs is scrap collected from dumpsites in Nairobi and its surroundings. 

“We go to dumpsites and collect these materials you see here. Others we get from clients whom we help to repair their gadgets like TVs and computers,” Gathu says. 

These self-made innovators have made a bionic arm from wood, wires, rubber and leather. The arm is meant to help those without to operate normally. 

Gathu and Kiuna started building the arm in 2011 after immersing themselves into scientific material to learn how the human body works. 

As Gathu says, they made the first arm in 2013 to help their friend who was a congenital amputee. 

“Our friend was born without an arm. So we decided to put our minds together to make one for him. We asked ourselves, if that arm can be able to move, why can't we come up with something that connects to the arm and make it complete? So we developed the arm and it has been helping him since.”

It is not just the arms they are making. When Covid-19 struck in 2020, the two innovators developed a machine that harnesses oxygen to sanitise masks and money. 

With the innovation, they were targeting shops and businesses where money is exchanged. 

“The owner of the business needs to place the money in the box, turn it on and from there the money will be sanitised completely. The machine helps to kill the virus in the money. It can also sanitise masks,” Gathu adds.

Kiuna says they still have many ideas which if the government comes through, will help provide employment to the youth in the country. 

Their biggest challenge, they say, is lack of support and finances to take their innovations to another level. 

“We fund this innovation by repairing TVs and radios for clients within Thogoto area. The money we get is what we use to acquire the materials we need such as glue and cables. It is our hope that well-wishers and other stakeholders will come on board and help us make this a national treasure,” Kiuna says.

For now, they are looking forward to starting mass production when such help arrives. They hope it comes sooner.