Youbionic, a young Italian company, has managed to develop a low-cost myoelectric prosthetic using 3D printing and common electronic components. The company aims the final finished product to just cost around a thousand euros, so that a larger number of amputees can benefit from this kind of technology.
The advances in the field of artificial limbs continue to amaze us. A prosthetic arm or a leg that can be controlled by thoughts and restores flexibility is not very far removed from reality now. Such devices would also have the sense of touch in near future. But these marvels of technology are mostly very expensive to be booked for clinical trials. Obviously, it is essential to innovative. But at the same time it is important that such technology should be affordable for everyone. This is the target set by the Italian startup Youbionic .
It has developed a myoelectric prosthesis hand that is controlled by the contraction of muscles via electrodes. It is made using the commercial off the shelf and low cost technology so that the final price will not exceed 1,000 dollars. To achieve this, Youbionic has used 3D printing and electronic components including a standard Arduino. A working prototype exists and can be seen in action in a video YouTube.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=du4rHjJsRrk[/youtube]
Clearly, this bionic hand is not of great sophistication and does not offer the same functionality as models worth several thousand euros. “The goal of our research is to create an artificial hand that can benefit those who have unfortunately lost…. We want to do it at lesser price than everything you can currently find on the market. We hope that our product is suitable for the largest number of people possible,” explain the designers.
For its part, Youbionic has not yet specified its business model, or set a date for the launch of commercial model. The young company is currently looking for investors to help make this happen.