Augment Bionics is building a smart, highly functional and affordable 3D printed prosthesis. Image Entrepreneur profile Team mate: Elisabeth Feldstein Studied MSc Chemistry School of Chemistry The idea Augment Bionics is building a smart, highly functional and affordable 3D printed prosthesis. The functional robotic arm prostheses currently available on the market are incredibly expensive. The affordable alternatives, however, barely bring any motor skills back to the amputee. Augment Bionics is working on the technical, aesthetic and commercial aspects of the innovative prosthesis in order to bridge the gap and empower amputees. Elisabeth Feldstein joined the Augment Bionics team in the fifth year of her integrated masters degree in Chemistry. “I would say that it is still early stages for Augment Bionics and myself. However, this journey has truly encapsulated the startup experience. It has taught me that even a startup with as much promise as Augment Bionics may have just as many failures as successes. It is important to reflect upon the failures and understand that they are part of the journey.” Support from Edinburgh Innovations The Augment Bionics team have received one-to-one advice from our business advisers, helping with the business plan and guidance when applying for external funding. The team have attended our Startup Workshop and IP seminars and won first place in our Business Ideas Competition for engineering students. They were runner-up for the Social and Environment Award at Inspire Launch Grow 2019. Knowing that Edinburgh Innovations is always available to provide support really allowed us to feel more at ease through the whole startup process. The future The NHS estimates that up to 60,000 patients with amputation or congenital limb deficiencies are attending specialist rehabilitation service centres in the UK. Demand for prosthetics in the UK is rising, and many of the bionic arms on the market are not covered by the NHS. Augment Bionics is creating 3D printed, affordable prosthetic forearms that would fit into the NHS budget. Feeling inspired? We have a range of events and workshops to help you find a startup idea or take an existing idea to the next level. Find out about our events and workshops This article was published on 2024-07-01
