Bali man I Wayan Sumardana, aka Tawan, blew up national headlines last year when he was hailed as Indonesia’s ‘Iron Man’ for inventing what he claimed was a brain-controlled robotic arm to help him support his family with his work as a welder.
Indonesian media went nuts, painting him as a heroic genius, taking his remarkable invention for granted.
He had all the makings of a great superhero story—a modest protagonist from humble beginnings overcoming an injury with resourceful problem-solving.
A real breakdown of Tawan’s incredible technology was never really shared and the suspicious thing was that once Bali’s governor wanted to send a team of experts to evaluate the workings of the arm—though only after giving him a handout of Rp 50 million—Tawan said water damage broke the sensor on his robotic arm.
But what ever happened to him after all that?
Local newspaper Tribun Bali checked in with Tawan at his workshop in Nyuh Tebel Village, Karangasem, East Bali on Sunday. It appears he still works as a welder and machine repairman, and his left arm supposedly remains paralyzed.
Tawan says he now assembled a semi-manual apparatus that he’s been using for the past six months, to put his right hand to use, made from bicycle gears, washers, and a motor chain, with an electrical input.
“Now I work with a semi-manual tool, I do not use an EEG robotic anymore. The system still works manually, it’s more relaxed than an EEG robotic, which uses a brain sensor,” Tawan told Tribun.
“The tool I’m using now is more comfortable, though more complicated. Using the EEG robotic would quickly tire out my mind. Now I’m not Iron Man anymore because the EEG robotic is broken and cannot be used anymore,” he added.
So whether or not he deserved the Iron Man epithet in the first place, he’s cast off the superhero nickname all on his own.
Tawan claims to be currently designing a muscle and sound sensor to eventually replace his current setup.
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