The world’s first prosthetic tattoo arm has been created for an amputee in Lyon, France.
Tattoo artist JC Sheitan Tenet lost his right arm as a child, nearly twenty-two years ago.
Last week Tenet became the first person in the world to become a ‘cyborg’ tattoo artist after his friend, Jean Louis Gonzalez, designed a prosthetic arm that allows him to work.
The first video of Tenet using the arm has been uploaded to YouTube and commenters have been quick to brand him the “Terminator Tattooer”.
The device combines an existing prosthetic with a mounted metal component (that can be removed when Tenet is not working) and allows him almost 100% accuracy.
He is also able to adjust the needles and other factors for each individual client and their requirements.
During the design process one of the biggest obstacles for Gonzalez was making sure that the metal attachment was lightweight enough to be lifted with ease.
The initial prototype went through several stages of development and the final version was constructed with parts from a sewing machine and a record player.
Tenet told Motherboard: “What started out as a sculpture is now something that I can use."
"[Gonzalez] understood that we didn’t have to recreate a hand as a prosthetic; we just had to create a tool that is better than a hand.”
Designer Gonzalez is known in the tattoo community for his mechanized taxidermies and skulls, but this is his first time creating such a device.
In the future Gonzalez told Motherboard that he hopes to make the arm even more complex with wrist-like movements and eventually individual fingers.
