Startup Esper Bionics makes intuitively-controlled bionic prostheses that learn people’s habits. Dmytro Gazda believes that in 10-20 years, body hacking will become a mainstream and people would change their bodies with implants. This prediction inspired his team to work on a next-generation robotic hand with sensors that gather and analyze its user’s data.
While there are many prostheses available on the market, most of them have limited functions. Esper Bionics wants to change that by creating a system that helps integrate any prosthesis with the human body.
“Controllability is one of the huge problems on the market. Due to modern data processing we can detect in which conditions which grip was preferred by the user and help to choose that grip in advance”, co-founder and engineer Ihor Ilchenko explains. He says the robotic hand sends user’s data to the cloud and updates algorithms controlling the hand.
Esper Bionics has only 2 prostheses tested by amputees, but the startup has received money from the SMRK venture fund. They plan to produce 20 prostheses by the end of the year and offer them to US clinics.
Author: Anna Yakutenko
The material was prepared with the support of the International Renaissance Foundation within the framework of the project Stories from Ukraine. The material reflects the position of the authors and does not necessarily coincide with the position of the International Renaissance Foundation.
