New Bionic Hand Can Detach From User, Crawl Around and Do Missions on Its Own

A UK startup called Open Bionics has just unveiled the world's first wireless bionic arm, called Hero — and it's so advanced that the hand can fully detach and amble about on its own, like the Addams Family's Thing.  

19-year-old influencer Tilly Lockey, a double-amputee who's been using Open Bionics' arms for the past nine years and has been a poster child for the company's efforts, recently showed off this incredibly sci-fi capability after being one of the first to receive the new device.

"I can move it around even when it's not attached to the arm," Lockey said in an interview with Reuters. "It can just go on its own missions — which is kinda crazy."

Lockey lost both her hands to meningitis as a toddler. Effortlessly, she pulls off the still writhing bionic hand, then places it on her bed to send it inching towards her phone.  

"The hand can crawl away like it's got a mind of its own," Lockey said.

Lockey is wearing two Hero PRO prototypes, which like all of Open Bionics's prosthetics are fully 3D-printed. Unlike some alternatives out there, the Hero arms don't rely on a chip implant, which requires invasive surgery and can lead to medical complications. Instead, it uses wireless electromyography (EMG) electrodes that the company calls "MyoPods" that are placed on top of the amputated limbs, sensing specific muscle signals.

In other words, it's fully muscle-operated. As Lockey explains, it primarily works off of two signals: a squeeze motion with her arm that closes the hand, and a flex motion that opens it. More advanced movements like hand gestures are performed through something like a "menu system," she said.

After working closely with Open Bionics for nearly a decade now, one thing that's surprised her the most with the new arms is how strong they are. "I'm not used to being that strong yet," Lockey told Reuters. "When I first put them on... I was, like, crushing everything."

The level of progress overall has startled her, she said. Open Bionics has been working on the prototype for four years.

"I now have 360-degree rotation in my wrists, I can flex them too. There literally isn't a single other arm that can do this," Lockey said in a statement. "No other arm is wireless and waterproof, and it's faster than everything else and it's still the lightest bionic hand available. I don't know how they've done it."

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