Bringing high-tech, brain-controlled prosthetics to users globally

Bioniks in Pakistan sold 700 prosthetics by 2024, leveraging AI tools and 3D scanning for custom designs. It employs 50 staff and aims for global expansion with affordable prosthetic solutions.

Bioniks is a social enterprise headquartered in Karachi, specializing in the production of prosthetic arms and hands. Employing advanced technological solutions, Bioniks aims to create functional, affordable, and accessible prosthetics. Customers can utilize a smartphone application to send 3D scans for the purpose of ordering custom-designed prosthetics. The company leverages AI-based tools to manufacture these artificial limbs and utilizes postal services for delivery. By mid-2024, Bioniks has employed a staff of 50 and sold 700 prosthetics, with an ambitious vision for rapid growth and global expansion.

Problems Targeted

About 100 million people worldwide need prosthetic limbs, but 80 per cent in low- and middle-income countries lack proper support.

Solution, Innovation and Impact

Bioniks, a social enterprise based in Karachi, Pakistan, produces functional, affordable, and accessible prosthetic arms and hands using advanced technology and AI-based tools. The technology works by interpreting neural signals through sensors that detect brain activity, allowing users to operate the prosthetic limb with thought. Users undergo 3D scanning to create a precise model of their residual limb from a smartphone app, and ordering can be done online, making it accessible for a broader audience. Data is then sent to Bioniks's experts for prosthetic design and fabrication. Finally, the prosthetic is shipped to the user. In terms of cost, a Bioniks brain-controlled prosthetic arm, for example, is approximately $5,000. The company is growing substantially, with an increase of staff from 15 to 50, and the number of total beneficiaries from 200 in 2021 to 700 in 2024.

Funding, Outlook and Transferability

Bioniks has secured funding through sales, grants, and private investments. It aims to expand globally by forming partnerships with health-care providers, thus creating distribution networks.

Pictures

Bionikx's technology can interpret neural signals through sensors that detect brain activity.

Bionikx's technology can interpret neural signals through sensors that detect brain activity.

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