It’s easy to get down on the new technologies that seem to be popping up everywhere. It can be overwhelming to keep up, and discouraging to see rising deaths from epidemics such as distracted driving. But every once in a while modern technology accomplishes something so miraculous that you can’t help but grin.

When Ashley Marotta was pregnant she went in for her 20-week ultrasound and got a shock. Her son only had one hand. And doctors had no clue why.

She said, “No child is ‘perfect’, but you hear the expression all the time, ‘ten fingers and ten toes’, and you don’t really know what that means until you have to.”

Her son Jordan was born with two arms, but one ended above his wrist. Otherwise he was healthy and Ashley was thankful for that. Ashly said, “I had seen a lot of videos of other kids like him, and there was a sense of relief that the journey might not be easy, but he’ll be ok.”

As Jordan noticed he was different. He asked, “Mummy, how come I don’t have two hands?” He even wondered if his hand would grow back. When Jordan was five, Ashley contacted Open Bionics, a UK-based smart prosthetics company with an office in New York. They told her they don’t fit bionics until children are seven. But she pushed for an exception.

“Jordan is on the bigger side for his age. So I really sold them on his muscles.”

The company agreed to attempt its youngest ever fitting. So the Long Island family went into Manhattan for Jordan’s appointment. Jordan was overjoyed that Open Bionics had prepared a special “hero arm” for him, which was Iron Man themed.

Jordan took to the arm immediately. He had to focus on using the nerves in his arm to move it, but enjoyed the learning curve. He said, “It’s really fun and it’s cool…I like to play with the hand and make it open and close…All it takes is just practice.”

Not only does Jordan now have a bionic arm. He holds the world record for the youngest person to control and wear one.

Ashley said Jordan was anything but shy about his new hero arm. As soon as they stepped onto the street, he held up his new arm to hail them a taxi cab. By the time they arrived home, he was so adept at gripping with his new hand that he was able to do something he’d always wanted: ride his scooter with two hands.

You can watch Jordan Marotta practice with his new arm in the video below: