TCD team building robot for Joanne

Researchers at a university are building a €75,000 robot which it’s hoped will dramatically change the life of a young woman born with no arms or legs.

A team from Trinity College Dublin’s technology department has been working since the beginning of the year to build the machine for Joanne O’Riordan, 17, who has the rare condition known as total amelia.

Her brother, Steven, said the team took up the challenge after Joanne made a speech at the UN last year calling for somebody to build a robot to help her.