PSYONIC

In 2014, when Dr. Akhtar was a graduate student at the University of Illinois, he got the opportunity to travel to Ecuador with the Range of Motion Project to fit a 3D-printed bionic hand prototype on a man who lost his hand 35 years prior in a war between Ecuador and Peru. The man, Juan Suquillo, was able to make a pinch with his left hand for the first time in 35 years. In fact, he had forgotten how to make a pinch and had to relearn how to do it. As a result, on the national news, he said he felt as though a part of him had come back. At that point, Dr. Akhtar realized that the only way to have everyone feel the same way Juan did was to commercialize the technology. And that’s when PSYONIC was born.

Coming back to the US, PSYONIC won the University of Illinois Cozad New Venture Competition in 2015, followed by Dr. Akhtar winning the Illinois Innovation Prize in 2016, and PSYONIC winning over $1.3MM in grants from the National Science Foundation with Dr. Akhtar serving as the Principal Investigator. Dr. Akhtar put together a team of world-class electrical, mechanical, and bioengineers along with sales & marketing experts to bring the bionic Ability Hand to market. The Ability Hand is the fastest bionic hand on the market and the first to give users touch feedback. It is also reimbursable by Medicare in the US, expanding access from 10% of the upper limb difference population to 75%.

For more information, please visit www.psyonic.io.