A designer from Reading became the first person in the world with a video game-inspired 3D printed "bionic" arm.

Dan Melville, 32, grew up with a prosthetic arm after being born without a right hand, with his childhood marred by having to wear a prosthetic hand which he said “did nothing” to improve his life or confidence.

He said: “You wore them because you thought that was the normal thing to do. I only ever got them to get time off school because I hated school, but I hated the arm too. It was a catch-22.

“I felt more disabled wearing it and for many years I stopped wearing them. I grew up with sci-fi films, though, so I wanted a bionic arm like the Terminator or Robocop.

“There were bionic arms out there, but we are talking £50,000 and I didn’t want to put my Mum and Dad through that with an arm that I might grow out of.”

An avid video game player, Mr Melville was persuaded by his girlfriend Harriet to get in touch with Open Bionics, a fledgling UK company developing low-cost bionic hands which was looking for testers.

After meeting with founder Joel Gibbard, Mr Melville soon became the first person ever to use a 3D printed bionic arm made from a video game character, Adam Jensen, the mechanically augmented protagonist of the game Deus Ex.

He was the first character Mr Melville said he felt he could relate to.

Speaking about how the arm works, Mr Melville said: “What fascinated me was that I could open and close my hand and pick things up like a piece of chalk whereas, when I was growing up, I couldn’t do any of that.

“I use pulses in my arm at the top and bottom of the muscles to open and close it.

“When I tense my muscles, it changes the grip pattern to certain modes. The arm can take up to 8kg of weight, which is insane for a 3D printed bionic arm.”

And talking about what the innovation means, Mr Melville said he hopes it can make it less expensive and easier to fit for other children and adults in a similar position to him.

He said: “Making it lower cost, easier for fitting and less troublesome for everyone makes it such a positive experience for people – plus the arms are really cool to look at.

“[It means] You are just as good as someone with two hands, if not cooler and better.”