SINGAPORE – Lightsabers and web-shooters have long been in the realms of science fiction, but 25-year-old inventor Jacob Uy has turned these ideas into reality on a workbench in his bedroom.
With a 3D printer, light-emitting diode (LED) strips, some thread and a vivid imagination, the Singaporean has built fully working replicas of iconic movie gadgets: a Spider-Man-style web-shooter that launches a retractable cord, and a lightsaber that extends and retracts.
Mr Uy’s bedroom desk – cluttered with cables, cutters, soldering tools and dismantled parts from earlier prototypes – is where the magic has been taking shape over the last six years.
He is now working on the sixth iteration of the lightsaber prototype, a project that started three years ago.
With each upgrade, the lightsaber prototypes have become sturdier, more compact and retract faster to more closely resemble its look and feel in the films.
Mr Jacob Uy working on a lightsaber prototype at his desk, which is cluttered with cables, cutters, soldering tools and dismantled parts.ST PHOTO: KEVIN LIM
He uses a magician’s cane – a narrow spring-steel strip that folds into a lightsaber hilt and extends out to full length within three seconds using a small motor. The cane is lined with ultra-bright teal LED strips, which fold and extend with the retracting cane to create the look of Cal Kestis’ lightsaber from the Star Wars video games.
Mr Uy’s homemade lightsaber goes beyond most toys found on department store shelves. The usual versions are plastic cylinders that collapse into the hilt, and the sturdier replicas used by lightsaber martial-arts enthusiasts do not retract at all.
Mr Jacob Uy is working on the sixth iteration of the lightsaber prototype, a project which started three years ago.ST PHOTO: KEVIN LIM
Work on the lightsaber started as a passion project among movie geeks whom Mr Uy met in Olin College in Needham, Massachusetts, in 2022. They responded to his e-mail calling for peers in the engineering school to work with him to build a real-life lightsaber.
Mr Uy, a movie fanatic since his childhood, said building a lightsaber was “a dream come true”. He has long built movie-inspired gadgets and structures out of Lego as a child, and takes inspiration from his favourite movie characters, who have all been inventors of sorts.
As a child, Mr Jacob Uy has long built movie-inspired gadgets and structures out of Lego, and takes inspiration from his favourite movie characters, who have all been inventors of sorts.PHOTO: COURTESY OF JACOB UY
Mr Uy said: “Spider-Man makes his own web-shooters. Tony Stark builds his own suit, and even Luke Skywalker built his own lightsaber… You can describe engineering in many different ways, but for me, engineering is the bridge between science fiction and reality.”
Also on his workbench is a Spider-Man inspired web-shooter. The watch-sized gadget houses a cartridge holding a spring-loaded thread that launches up to 3m when a string is pulled to release its stopper.
Watch‑sized gadgets house a cartridge holding a spring‑loaded thread that launches up to 3m when a string is pulled to release its stopper.ST PHOTO: KEVIN LIM
A magnet fastened to the end of the string attaches to magnetic surfaces, allowing users to channel their inner Spidey and yank items towards them. Mr Uy said he is working on a refined version of the web-shooter with a mechanism to retract the string, saving users the trouble of coiling it into the cartridge.
A 2018 video of his early web-shooter prototype drew roughly 41 million views, launching Mr Uy’s career as a full-time content creator.
Topping 300,000 subscribers, his channel supplies most of the income for his company, HeroTech, which he has since registered in Singapore.
Aware of copyright issues, Mr Uy is mindful of what he lists for sale.
Over the past six years, more than 1,000 customers have purchased versions of the US$349 (S$450) thread-shooter – one of the few prototypes he lists for sale as it is unlikely to infringe copyright.
“There’s no copyright over things that shoot out string,” he said.
But he is more careful with the lightsaber, which he is not planning to sell for now.
Mr Uy said he identifies first and foremost as a YouTube content creator, who makes videos about how sci-fi gadgets can be brought to life safely.
Earnings from the thread-shooter are channelled back into keeping his company afloat and on materials to improve upon his prototypes. Soon, he plans to hire engineering interns to assist with building more gadgets.
“HeroTech’s main thing is about making these designs and sharing the process on social media so that other people can learn from it,” said Mr Uy.
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