Open Bionics
Superpowers
Open Bionics is a Bristol-based robotics company working with global partners like Disney, Konami, Fox, and Eidos-Montréal to turn disabilities into superpowers. Founded by Samantha Payne MBE and Joel Gibbard MBE in 2014, the company has won over 30 engineering and innovation awards including two British Engineering Excellence awards and the global Robotics For Good Award.
The company’s first product is the life-changing Hero Arm for below-elbow amputees. Since launching the bionic arm in 2018, the company has grown with its community to provide prosthetics for children as young as eight years old and adults who are born without hands or who lose hands to accident, injury, or illness.
The robotics company continues to challenge industry status quo by using 3D printing and 3D scanning, along with clever software and design, to make advanced, affordable and accessible bionic limbs. Engineered in Bristol, the Hero Arm uses myo-electric sensors which detect underlying muscular contractions generated from specific muscle groups in the arm. These are then amplified and converted into intuitive and proportional bionic hand movements. Children and adults with below-elbow limb differences can register interest here: https://openbionics.com/en/hero-arm/