Ukrainian Startup Esper Bionics Develops Smart Hand Prostheses

Esper Bionics myoelectric hand prosthesis features movable fingers, thumb, and wrist

More than 10,000 Ukrainians need prosthetics for their upper limbs, yet have little means to receive them.

Despite the fact that there are many prostheses on the market, they remain prohibitively expensive for most people in Ukraine. According to Ukrainian legislation, the state must provide patients who have undergone surgical amputations and prostheses for free, but not all amputees wait until they can receive state help. If a patient does get support from the state, in most cases they will receive simple cosmetic prostheses or ones with limited function.

High-quality prostheses cost nearly $30,000-60,000, while the average Ukrainian salary is about $420 as of July 2020.

In 2017, Ukrainian entrepreneur Dmytro Gazda decided to solve this problem for those who need hand prostheses. He and his partners created a startup called Esper Bionics that develops technologically savvy and cheaper prostheses along with a software platform and a phone application.

Gazda is a medical doctor by education but, after graduating from university, he became an entrepreneur instead. As an entrepreneur, he was involved in light industry working with furniture and textile companies but never within the health industry.

During his university studies in 2006, Gazda went to Finland for an exchange program to assist in surgical operations. During his internship, he met a Ukrainian woman who lost her arm. Ten years later, he found out through Facebook that her prosthesis was of bad quality. This sparked an idea for Gazda to create a much more effective and more affordable prosthetic.

Esper Bionic’s uses myoelectric technology, which means that it consists of two man sections: the hand (made by the startup) and a socket (manufactured by the clinic). Once fully assembled, the patient’s brain sends signals to the body’s muscles, thus initiating the prosthesis to move accordingly. Muscle sensors installed in arm area transmits this information to the prosthesis.

The prosthesis can be used with up to six standard grips, but users can customize them and increase the number by saving it in a free smartphone application. Once 10 prostheses are installed, the company will then connect them all to a cloud platform, thus constantly updating the algorithms for the prosthesis to work better.

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