Open Bionics

Last updated

Open Bionics
Company type Private company
Industry Medical devices, healthcare
Headquarters
Bristol
,
United Kingdom
Key people
Products3D printed bionic prosthetics
Website www.openbionics.com

Open Bionics is a UK-based company that develops low-cost, 3D printed bionic arms for amputees with below elbow amputations (more formally known as myoelectric prostheses). Their bionic arms are fully functional with lights, bio feedback vibrations and different functions that allow the user to grab, pinch, high-five, fist bump and thumbs-up. The company is based inside Future Space, co-located with Bristol Robotics Laboratory. [1] The company was founded in 2014 by Joel Gibbard MBE and Samantha Payne MBE. [2]

Contents

In 2020 Joel Gibbard and Samantha Payne were awarded MBEs for their services to Innovation, Engineering, and Technology.

A 3D printed Star Wars bionic hand by Open Bionics in collaboration with ILM XLab. Star Wars Bionic hand.jpg
A 3D printed Star Wars bionic hand by Open Bionics in collaboration with ILM XLab.

History

Open Bionics grew out of the Open Hand project created by Joel Gibbard after studying robotics at the University of Plymouth. [3] The project aimed to use 3D printing to create hand prostheses. Samantha Payne had interviewed him as a reporter in Bristol covering social impact stories and was keen to have a social impact herself. They founded Open Bionics together in 2014. [2]

In 2018 they were named as the Hottest Startup Founders in Europe at the Europa Awards. [4]

In late 2023, Open Bionics expanded their clinical presence in the United States, with clinics located in Denver, Los Angeles, Orlando, and New York City. [5]

Product

The first product, the Hero Arm, was differentiated not only by its relatively low price given the functionality, but also by making a bold positive feature of the artificial arm, rather than disguising it to look like a natural body part. [2] Each arm is 3D printed to the user's specific measurements and muscle sensors control servo-actuated movement of the fingers. Key features include 6 different grip types, 180 degree wrist rotation, magnetically attached swappable decorative covers, adjustable fit to compensate for limb expansion (e.g. with temperature), and a ventilated liner. [6] Users have access to a Sidekick App developed by Calvium with interactive training guides and personalisation controls. [7]

Partnerships

In 2015, Disney and Open Bionics announced a partnership to create superhero-themed prosthetics for young amputees. [8] In the same year, the company won the 2015 James Dyson Award in the UK for innovative engineering [9] [10] and Tech4Good's 2015 Accessibility Award. [11] [12] In 2016, it won a Bloomberg Business Innovators award. [13] [14]

In January 2019, James Cameron and 20th Century Fox partnered with Open Bionics to give 13-year-old double amputee Tilly Lockey a pair of Alita-inspired bionic Hero Arms for the London premiere of Alita: Battle Angel . [15] Lockey lost both of her hands when she contracted meningococcal septicemia at 15 months of age. [16]

In 2020, Open Bionics partnered with gaming company Konami to create 'Venom Snake' Hero Arm covers, which are featured in the 2015 video game Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. [17]

In 2023, Open Bionics collaborated with Ukraine charity Superhumans Center to fit Ukrainian soldiers with bionic Hero Arms as a result of the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine [18]

Funding

In January 2019, Open Bionics raised Series A funding of $5.9 million. [19] [20] The round was led by Foresight Williams Technology EIS Fund, Ananda Impact Ventures and Downing Ventures, with participation from F1's Williams Advanced Engineering Group among others. [21] [22]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prosthesis</span> Artificial device that replaces a missing body part

In medicine, a prosthesis, or a prosthetic implant, is an artificial device that replaces a missing body part, which may be lost through physical trauma, disease, or a condition present at birth. Prostheses are intended to restore the normal functions of the missing body part. Amputee rehabilitation is primarily coordinated by a physiatrist as part of an inter-disciplinary team consisting of physiatrists, prosthetists, nurses, physical therapists, and occupational therapists. Prostheses can be created by hand or with computer-aided design (CAD), a software interface that helps creators design and analyze the creation with computer-generated 2-D and 3-D graphics as well as analysis and optimization tools.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bionics</span> Application of natural systems to technology

Bionics or biologically inspired engineering is the application of biological methods and systems found in nature to the study and design engineering systems and modern technology.

Biorobotics is an interdisciplinary science that combines the fields of biomedical engineering, cybernetics, and robotics to develop new technologies that integrate biology with mechanical systems to develop more efficient communication, alter genetic information, and create machines that imitate biological systems.

Jesse Sullivan is an American electrician best known for operating a fully robotic limb through a nerve-muscle graft, making him one of the first non-fictional cyborgs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ryan AbilityLab</span> Hospital in Illinois, United States

The Shirley Ryan AbilityLab, formerly the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago (RIC), is a not-for-profit nationally ranked physical medicine and rehabilitation research hospital based in Chicago, Illinois. Founded in 1954, the AbilityLab is designed for patient care, education, and research in physical medicine and rehabilitation (PM&R). The AbilityLab specializes in rehabilitation for adults and children with the most severe, complex conditions ranging from traumatic brain and spinal cord injury to stroke, amputation and cancer-related impairment. Affiliated with Northwestern University, the hospital is located on Northwestern’s Chicago campus and partners on research and medical efforts.

Targeted reinnervation enables amputees to control motorized prosthetic devices and to regain sensory feedback. The method was developed by Dr. Todd Kuiken at Northwestern University and Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago and Dr. Gregory Dumanian at Northwestern University Division of Plastic Surgery.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hugh Herr</span> American rock climber and bioengineer

Hugh Herr is an American rock climber, engineer, and biophysicist. When he was young, both of his legs were amputated below the knee during a blizzard in a rock climbing trip. After months of surgeries and rehabilitation, Herr began climbing again, using specialized prostheses he designed for himself, becoming the first person with a major amputation to perform in a sport on par with elite-level, able-bodied persons. He holds the patents to the Rheo Knee, an active ankle-foot orthosis, which is the world's first powered ankle-foot prosthesis.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Viktoria Modesta</span> British musical artist

Viktorija Moskaļova, better known as Viktoria Modesta, is a Latvian-born British singer-songwriter, performance artist, creative director, and model. Modesta's leg was injured during her birth. She had it voluntarily amputated in 2007. She was signed to IMG Models as a model, and as a musician she is also known as a "Bionic Pop Artist". Her music video "Prototype" received a Silver Lion Award at the Cannes Film Festival. She also performed at the 2012 Summer Paralympics closing ceremony and was a guest star at the Crazy Horse in Paris in 2019.

BeBionic is a commercial prosthetic hand designed to enable amputees to perform everyday activities, such as eating, drinking, writing, typing, turning a key in a lock and picking up small objects.

The i-LIMB Hand is the brand name of world's first commercially available bionic hand invented by David Gow and his team at the Bioengineering Centre of the Princess Margaret Rose Hospital in Edinburgh, and manufactured by Touch Bionics. The articulating prosthetic hand has individually powered digits and thumb and has a choice of grips. The i-Limb Hand offers full hand solutions in addition to partial hand solutions. It was launched in Vancouver in July 2007. i-LIMB Hand won the Limbless Association's Prosthetic Product Innovation Award for 2008, was listed at number fourteen in the TIME's list of the Top 50 Best Inventions of 2008, and Touch EMAS/Touch Bionics was awarded The Queen's Award for Enterprise: Innovation (Technology) (2010) for the i-LIMB Hand.

David James Gow CBE is the inventor of the i-Limb prosthetic hand. He was made an honorary Doctor of Science in November 2018 by the University of Edinburgh.

The Michelangelo Hand is a fully articulated robotic hand prosthesis developed by the German prosthetics company Ottobock and its American partner Advanced Arm Dynamics. It is the first prosthesis to feature an electronically actuated thumb which mimics natural human hand movements. The Michelangelo Hand can be used for a variety of delicate everyday tasks, was first fitted to an Austrian elective-amputee in July 2010 and has been in use by military and civilian amputees in the United States and United Kingdom since 2011.

<i>Alita: Battle Angel</i> 2019 film directed by Robert Rodriguez

Alita: Battle Angel is a 2019 American cyberpunk action film based on Yukito Kishiro's manga series Gunnm. It was directed by Robert Rodriguez, produced by James Cameron and Jon Landau, and written by Cameron and Laeta Kalogridis. Rosa Salazar stars through motion-capture animation as Alita, a cyborg who awakens in a new body without memory of her past and sets out to uncover her destiny. Christoph Waltz, Jennifer Connelly, Mahershala Ali, Ed Skrein, Jackie Earle Haley and Keean Johnson play supporting roles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Limbitless Solutions</span> Non-Profit Organization

Limbitless Solutions is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization founded in the United States that uses additive manufacturing to create accessible, yet affordable personalized bionics and prosthetic partial arms for children with limb deltas The organization says their bionic arms are manufactured for under $400, 1% of the standard production cost. Headquartered on the University of Central Florida campus in Orlando, Florida, the organization was founded by a team of engineering students, led by CEO and Executive Director Albert Manero.

E-NABLE is a distributed, Open Source community that creates and shares open source designs for assistive devices. It is known for creating the first 3D printable prosthetic hand and sharing the designs and code for bioelectric limbs.

Samantha Joanne Payne MBE is an English entrepreneur. The co-founder of Open Bionics, a bionics company developing affordable prosthetics for children, Payne has won a number of international awards for her work. These include the MIT Technology Review 'Innovators under 35' in 2018, James Dyson gong for innovative engineering and Wired Innovation Fellow in 2016. In the Queen's Birthday Honours list 2020, Payne was awarded an MBE, for her work making bionic technology more accessible.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tilly Lockey</span> British amputee known for her bionic arms

Tilly Lockey is a British social media personality and amputee known for her bionic arms developed by Open Bionics, which she has used since 2016. In 2021, she competed and went on to win the sixth series of the CBBC competition series Got What It Takes?.

Jason Barnes is an American amputee drummer with a robotic arm.

Álvaro Ríos Poveda is a Colombian electronic engineer, university professor, and researcher who specializes in biomedical engineering and mechatronics. He has performed research on myoelectric prostheses, sensory feedback, and bionic vision technologies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aadeel Akhtar</span> American businessman

Aadeel Akhtar is a neuroscientist and electrical engineer. He is CEO and founder of the bionics company PSYONIC. In 2021, he was named one of MIT Technology Review’s 35 Innovators Under 35 and was featured in Newsweek’s “America's 50 Greatest Disruptors: Visionaries Who Are Changing the World.”

References

  1. ↑ "Future Space Case Studies - Open Bionics". www.brl.ac.uk. Retrieved 3 February 2016.
  2. 1 2 3 Ward, Chris (5 April 2023). "South West Business Leader of the Month: Pioneers for the Bionic Age: Samantha Payne". Insider Media. Retrieved 14 April 2024.
  3. ↑ Solon, Olivia. "Open Hand Project makes robotic prosthetics much more accessible". Wired. ISSN   1059-1028 . Retrieved 15 April 2024.
  4. ↑ Butcher, Mike (4 July 2018). "The Winners of The Europas Awards 2018 show Europe's startup power". TechCrunch. Award 22. Retrieved 14 April 2024.
  5. ↑ https://openbionics.com/visit-an-open-bionics-prosthetics-clinic-near-you/
  6. ↑ "The Hero Arm Overview is a Prosthetic Arm Made by Open Bionics". Open Bionics. Retrieved 14 April 2024.
  7. ↑ "Open Bionics - Calvium" . Retrieved 15 April 2024.
  8. ↑ "Open Bionics and Disney release Star Wars, Iron Man and Frozen themed prosthetics". Wired UK. Retrieved 3 February 2016.
  9. ↑ "Open Bionics 3D-printed robotic hand wins Dyson Award". Wired UK. Retrieved 3 February 2016.
  10. ↑ "Open Bionics robotic hand for amputees wins Dyson Award". BBC News. 24 August 2015. Retrieved 1 December 2020.
  11. ↑ "Winners 2015 - Tech4Good Awards". Tech4Good Awards. Retrieved 3 February 2016.
  12. ↑ Balch, Oliver (31 July 2015). "A bionic hand in five days: how tech innovation is changing lives". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 1 December 2020.
  13. ↑ "Open Bionics - Bloomberg Business Innovators". Bloomberg News . Retrieved 3 February 2016.
  14. ↑ "Open Bionics: Diese neuen Armprothesen machen aus Kindern Superhelden". MobileGeeks Deutschland (in German). 1 October 2019. Retrieved 1 December 2020.
  15. ↑ "Man Born Without Arm Given Bionic Limb Inspired By Metal Gear Solid". www.unilad.co.uk. Retrieved 2 December 2020.
  16. ↑ "Alita: Battle Angel Bionic Arms For Tilly". Open Bionics. Archived from the original on 24 May 2019. Retrieved 24 May 2019.
  17. ↑ [ dead link ]
  18. ↑ "Ukraine war: 'I'm going back to the frontline with my bionic arm'". BBC News. 14 April 2023. Retrieved 2 June 2023.
  19. ↑ "Open Bionics closes $5.9M Series A for its affordable and cool bionic limbs". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2 December 2020.
  20. ↑ "Open Bionics raises $5.9 million to make affordable 3D printed bionic limbs". 3D Printing Industry. 11 January 2019. Retrieved 2 December 2020.
  21. ↑ Cook, James (4 October 2019). "Tej Kohli: The Indian tech billionaire who plans to turbocharge Britain's start-up scene". The Telegraph. ISSN   0307-1235 . Retrieved 2 December 2020.
  22. ↑ Baker, Hannah (15 January 2019). "Bristol 'superhero' arm-making company lands multi-million deal". BristolLive. Retrieved 2 December 2020.


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