BionIT Labs is a startup which applies Information Technologies to Bionics in order to Turn Disabilities into New Possibilities: we realize innovative medical devices for people who lost a limb due to traumatic injuries or congenital deficiencies.
Our Mission is not limited to the restoration of the users missing limbs basic functionalities. We want to potentiate them through means that could enormously simplify their life, e.g. related to home automation or IoT: Technology at the user fingertips.
Our Vision is about a world in which disabilities are not seen by people as discriminating or destabilizing factors, but instead as new chances to approach - and interact with - our environment and our society, leading to a massive cultural and social impact.
BionIT Labs' first device is Adam's Hand, an innovative myoelectric prosthesis based upon a patent pending mechanism that allows the actuation of all the five fingers (15 degrees of freedom, one for each phalanx) with just one motor: this allows us to save on weight, dimensions and autonomy of the device and leads to an extremely simple control for the user; all of this at a price ranging from 1/3 to 1/2 compared to that of our competitors.
Adam's Hand stands for "A Dialogic, Adaptive, Modular, Sensitive
Hand": these are the main aspects that make it the "First of its
Kind".
Dialogic: Adam’s Hand wants to potentiate the user providing
him info gathered from his surroundings and enhancing his connection with the
environment: IoT and Home Automation are actually at the user fingertips!
Adaptive: the synergy between advanced mechanics and
self-learning algorithm, leads the user to learn to use the device fast and
easily. App/web integration for telemedicine allows for a continuous and
effective user-orthopedic interaction.
Modular: classic industrial processes and innovative
3D printing technologies allow for a never-seen customization of the device.
Adam's Hand is also designed in a modular way in order to adapt to different
amputation levels, while the fingers are customizable in size (length and
thickness of the phalanges): a single device to fulfill each user needs.
Sensitive: the sensors signals are gathered and
stocked in a cloud database. Visive, audio and vibratory feedback are provided
to the user: the device is no longer perceived as an unnatural mechanical
appendix, but instead as an extension of the user’s own body.
The adaptive mechanism allows the grip forces to be equally distributed
among the fingers, thus ensuring always the most stable grasp. This feature
leads the prosthesis control to be as simple as possible: thanks to the high
technology integrated in Adam's Hand, the user has only to decide if opening or
closing the device, thus needing really few visual attentions, while the hand
automatically performs the most suitable grip pattern for each grasped object. The inner mechanism is built with high-resistance metal components,
while the hand shell and the fingers are 3D printed using high-quality plastic
in order to make them easily customizable in size and to keep the weight as low
as possible without compromising the device structural integrity.
