#SingularityUSouthAfrica2019: What's possible in the future

Benjamin Rosman in conversation with Tilly Lockey at the SingularityU South Africa Summit 2019.

Connecting technology and human beings

Creating new interesting tech is one thing, but it also needs to address gaps in society. It needs to move out of research labs and into our everyday lives. Meet Tilly Lockey – she has bionic arms developed by a company called Open Bionics.

There are an estimated five million upper limb amputees globally. Open Bionics is building and developing the next generation of bionic limbs and turning disabilities into superpowers.

Designer prosthesis featured on Popular Mechanics cover

27 May 2013

What makes Lockey’s arms different (compared to regular, humanlike prosthetics) is that they have additional modes over and above open and close. Lockey had to learn how to move between the different modes.

Why? All bionic advanced prosthetic arms work differently. What’s more, is that they’re personalised in terms of sensitivity, they work on flexing and releasing muscles.

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Multi-grip functionality – the Hero Arm

“Think about all the things you do with your hands on a daily basis. These hands help me both physically and mentally,” said Lockey. “All the money used to go the aesthetics of the hands, how they looked and not how they worked.”

Technology is not only changing how prosthetics work. Prosthetics can be heavy – something to keep in mind when developing bionic arms for kids. Growing up also means that hands need to be recreated and replaced yearly if that.

Open Bionics 3D-print their prosthetics from plastic – this makes them lightweight and more affordable – the cost lies is the battery and the motors on the inside. A pair of 3D-printed bionic arms costs around 10,000 pounds (which often means a lot of fundraising is involved).

"Be who you want to be!" - 13 year old Tilly Lockey ��@GiveTillyaHand https://t.co/z2N431Y4wc pic.twitter.com/jK9qwxeKzV

— Open Bionics (@openbionics) July 29, 2019

Lockey has added a few personal tweaks to her hands, providing customisation (and sometimes crazy feature) feedback, to Open Bionics over the last three to four years. Will prosthetics eventually offer features like projectors, a voice assistant, Bluetooth speakers and even Haptic Touch feedback?

If Open Bionics has already created prosthetics arms that can do so much more than simply open and close in under five years, who knows what the future will hold.