Open Bionics
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| Private company | |
| Industry | Medical devices, healthcare |
| Headquarters | Bristol, United Kingdom |
Key people | |
| Products | 3D printed bionic prosthetics |
| Website |
www |
Open Bionics, founded in 2014, is a UK based start-up company developing low-cost bionic hands. It is based inside the Bristol Robotics Laboratory,[1] the largest robotics research centre in Europe.
Open Bionics creates advanced bionic hands for amputees using 3D scanning and 3D printing technology. Although the company is pre-sales they have released a number of user trial videos showing how their technology works.[2]
Products
Open Bionics have released designs for several of their prototypes with an open source license. The company encourages engineers and developers to contribute to the development of bionic hands by joining their developer community. These hands provide a research platform for robotics or a test platform for prosthetics research. Each hand has been designed to be easy to build and repair.
Dextrus V1.1
A 3D printed robotic hand developed by The Open Hand Project using desktop 3D printers.[3]
Dextrus V2.0
Second version of the 3D printed robotic hand developed by Open Bionics using desktop 3D printers.[3]
Ada V1.0
The latest version of Open Bionics' robotic hand. The Ada hand can be assembled in under one hour, takes 20 hours to print on a desktop 3D printer, and can be controlled via EMG sensors. The Ada hand has fingers that are individually actuated and controlled via muscle tensing. The hand has multiple grip modes including open / close, tripod, pinch, point, and power grip.
The company has released their design files and code on their website, Instructables,[4] Thingiverse,[5] and GitHub.[6]
Disney Prosthetics
Open Bionics announced a royalty-free licensing deal with Disney in 2015 to create official Iron Man, Star Wars, and Disney Frozen bionic hands for young amputees.[7] The company is yet to set a release date for these superhero inspired bionic hands, although the company has successfully trialled an Iron Man and a Star Wars bionic hand with two children.
Awards
Open Bionics has won multiple awards for engineering and innovation including:
- Bloomberg Business Innovators 2016[8]
- James Dyson Award for Innovative Engineering 2015[9]
- Accessibility Tech4Good award 2015[10]
- Overall Winner Tech4Good award 2015[10]
- Computer Bild's Best Product Innovation at CES 2015[11]
- Robotics Business Review's top 50 most influential robotics companies 2015[12]
- Limbless Association's Prosthetic Innovation of the Year award 2014[13]
- Intuit's Britain's Best Startup Idea competition 2014
- Runner up in Intel's Make it Wearable award 2014
- Currently in the top 10 for the Inclusive Technology Prize[14]
- Currently shortlisted for five Sparkies awards.
References
- ↑ "BRL Incubatee Companies". www.brl.ac.uk. Retrieved 2016-02-03.
- ↑ This 3D-Printed Prosthetic Costs Way Less Than Alternatives. 25 August 2015 – via YouTube.
- 1 2 Joel Gibbard. "The Open Hand Project - Downloads". openhandproject.org.
- ↑ Open Bionics (26 January 2016). "Ada Robotic Hand - Open Bionics". Instructables.com.
- ↑ "Ada Robotic Hand". thingiverse.com.
- ↑ "Open Bionics". GitHub.
- ↑ "Open Bionics and Disney release Star Wars, Iron Man and Frozen themed prosthetics". Wired UK. Retrieved 2016-02-03.
- ↑ "Open Bionics - Bloomberg Business Innovators". Retrieved 2016-02-03.
- ↑ "Open Bionics 3D-printed robotic hand wins Dyson Award". Wired UK. Retrieved 2016-02-03.
- 1 2 "Winners 2015 - Tech4Good Awards". Tech4Good Awards. Retrieved 2016-02-03.
- ↑ "Most Advanced 3D Printed Robotic Prosthetic". Open Bionics. Retrieved 2016-02-03.
- ↑ "RBR50 - Robotics Business Review". www.roboticsbusinessreview.com. Retrieved 2016-02-03.
- ↑ "Open Bionics shortlisted for award - Limbless Association". www.limbless-association.org. Retrieved 2016-02-03.
- ↑ "Congratulations to 10 finalists! | Inclusive Technology Prize". www.inclusivetechprize.org. Retrieved 2016-02-03.