Words by Smiley Team
Technology is being used in nearly every facet of our daily lives and the workplace – and more often than not, entrepreneurs are using tech to benefit the greater good.
One of those companies is Illinois-based engineering lab of Psyonic, which wanted to use technology to benefit people who have lost limbs.
Founder Aadeel Akhtar says it has taken the business six years to create a groundbreaking new bionic hand. He was inspired to use technology for good after meeting someone who had a limb difference when he was just a young boy.
“When I was 7 years old, I met someone with a limb difference for the first time,” he tells Smiley News.
“She was my age, living in poverty in Pakistan, missing her right leg. At the time, I wondered how we could share the same ethnic heritage but have such vastly different qualities of life. As I grew older, I realized that this was due to a lack of resources.
“For that reason, I founded and serve as the CEO of Psyonic, a company whose mission is to develop advanced prostheses that are affordable for everyone.”
[Sign up for a weekly dose of positive news]
Aadeel started by creating the “Ability Hand”, which is a bionic hand that moves all five fingers, is the fastest available, is impact resistant, and is the first to give users a feeling of touch.
“There are over 10 million people worldwide with an upper limb difference,” he says. “We are pushing the boundaries of what's possible with bionic technologies with the goal of making this technology accessible to this population worldwide.”
Aadeel has made sure the hand is available and covered by Medicare, which expands access from 10% of patients who could afford a bionic hand to 75%.
“We are working on programs to subsidize the costs for the 90%+ of patients who are in developing nations and can't afford this technology,” he says.
EDUCATE: Learn more about the ability hand and how it helps people with limb differences.
DONATE: Donate to Limb Kind, which supports those with limb differences in the US.
GET INVOLVED: See how you can support the I Am Possible Foundation, which celebrates limb loss and differences.
