When a child is fitted with a prosthetic arm, they often feel self-conscious about the fact that it looks almost-and-yet-not-quite like the limb they have lost. One UK-based robotic medical technology company is turning this on its head, with movie- and video-game inspired bionic arms that make kids feel like they have superpowers.
Samantha Payne, Co-Founder and COO of OpenBionics, says she wanted to create a technology that would have a meaningful impact on people’s lives. Her start-up tech company has the mission of developing robotic medical technology, such as bionic hands, while still being affordable. In fact, their multi-grip bionic arms cost about three times less than similar (and way less super) models on the market.
“In the beginning our focus was technology and functionality,”says Payne. “But when speaking to our users, we realized we had underestimated the psychological part of limb loss.” OpenBionics wanted to design prosthetic arms that would appeal to children and make them feel super, so what better way than to have Disney on board" “We got them involved through an accelerated program. There were multiple rounds of pitching, and talking to the artists and creators at Disney. They were very excited about it,” says Payne.
Themes from Marvel, Disney, and Star Wars franchises are currently available.
Photo: OpenBionics
Payne recalls fitting a young boy named Tamryn with a Star Wars arm for the first time:
“Wh...