As Seen at SXSW: Bionic Woman Plugs Her Robotic Arm into A Wall Socket

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'Bionic woman' is pictured plugging her robotic arm into a wall socket in the back of a room at SXSW, as she reveals people at the panel 'refused to give up charging their phones' for her

• Angel Giuffria was born missing her left arm below the elbow
• An advocate for prosethic technology, she wears a battery-powered bionic hand that uses surface electrodes and can be programmed wirelessly
• While attending SXSW, she was using it more than usual for demonstrations and the battery began to die
• A person charging a phone turned her away from a socket — but she insisted she found the situation funny
• The 28-year-old is also an actress who appeared in The Hunger Games

 

 

 

 

Some people can't imagine anything worse than their phone running out of juice — but when 'bionic woman' Angel Giuffria is frantically looking for a wall socket, it's because she needs to charge her arm.

Angel, 28, was born missing her left arm below the elbow, and has worn a prosthetic since she was four months old. Since then, she's upgraded to the latest technology, and currently wears a motorized prosthetic that requires some charging.

While attending a panel at South by Southwest in Austin, Texas this week, though, she ran into a bit of a problem: Her arm was in need of a quick charge, but the socket she wanted to used was commandeered by someone charging his or her phone.

 

According to Chron.com, Angel was at a panel on Saturday when her hand began to beep, which indicated that the battery was running low.

'I pulled my charger out of my purse to walk over to the wall outlet,' she said. 'Another person walked up at the same time that I did to plug in their phone, which is fine.

'I wasn't sure how many outlets were there, so I asked if there was room for me to charge my arm and they said no, and directed me to the back of the room.'

Luckily, she did find a plug in the back corner that she was able to use. She took a photo of herself all plugged in and uploaded it to Twitter.

'FYI: People at this @SXSW panel refused to give up charging their phones so I could charge my arm,' she wrote, 'but I found an outlet in the back of the room so CHARGE ME UP.'

 

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