Covvi updates bionic hand innovation with new feature that updates new gestures remotely
British firm Covvi has updated its “revolutionary” bionic arm device with a new feature that enables the user to update it with new movements and gestures, anytime and anywhere in the world.
The Nexus hand is a bionic device that converts electrical impulses from the muscles in the upper arm into movement powered by motors in the hand, enabling its user perform a variety of tasks that would be impossible, or more difficult, without one. The bionic arm allows a user to hold a glass, open a door or pick up an egg.
Simon Pollard, who founded Leeds-based Covvi five years ago, said he wanted to improve the connection between the company’s in-house engineers, the clinicians and their users.
The Chief Executive said: “The fact we can change some of the things that the customer wants remotely is a really powerful thing and a first to market.”
In the past, bionic hands would often need to be sent back for small adjustments and firmware updates, which would leave the end-user without a prosthetic for weeks.
But Covvi ’s hand can utilise bluetooth connectivity to link with the Covvi Go App, allowing the user to adjust the sensitivity of different triggers, assign new grips and much more at any time.
The new ‘Remote Assist’ feature allows the company’s specialists to create a private one-to-one session with a user and guide them through this process.
This helps remove the need to go to a clinic for minor issues and updates; ultimately ensuring clinicians have more time to provide more comprehensive support for their patients.
Some rival bionic hands can be app-controlled, but Pollard says that the ability to talk to a single device set the Nexus apart. To do that anonymised data is collected for every user, a task managed by partner NetApp.
Former Paralympian, Jessica Smith, was fitted with the new device in April this year and said that it was “amazing” and that she chose to have it despite a traumatic experience with a prosthetic when she was a child.
The Australian swimmer, 37, was born without a left hand. Her parents were advised to fit a prosthesis to help with her development, but the device caused her to upset a boiling kettle when she was a toddler, causing burns to 15 per cent of her body.
“There’s always been an association between the fact this prosthetic aid didn’t actually help, it created the most traumatic event in my life,” she said.
But her curiosity was sparked when she was approached by Covvi to try its revolutionary myo-electric hand.
Smith, who is a speaker and children’s author, said Covvi was already creating new movements for her.
“I’ve had a few kids ask if I can do different hand gestures, some polite some not so polite,” she said. “I asked Covvi this morning, and I know that will be done in the next couple of hours.”
She said the tech was not just changing her life, it was changing the lives of her three children.
“They think it’s amazing and I’m like half human-half robot,” she said.
She said the “bionic” appearance of the hand was an attraction, given her pride in difference.
“I’m not trying to hide who I am,” she said. “I’m adding and expanding on who I am by being able to access technology that’s never been available before.”
Covvi had so far signed up 27 distributors globally, including in Australia, China and the United States, and aims to increase monthly production to 100.
