Esper Bionics is a hardware startup which develops devices in the prosthetics field. Esper’s main product is a smart robot arm based on artificial intelligence. In 2022 media giant Time added Ukrainian root creation to the top of 200 lead human inventions.
Meet the Esper
The startup’s headquarters and management are located in New York. Product development is situated in Kyiv. Team uses DSP, AI (ML), and data collection technologies for better prosthetic control. In company they believe that human capacity and abilities are underestimated. Esper aims to unleash them by building technologies that can eliminate diseases, give humans extra abilities, and ultimately fulfill and prolong the lives of billions of people around the globe.
Product is traded mostly in the US market, however the war in Ukraine has extended the state’s prosthetics market as well.
“We are creating a modular prosthesis, which is similar to a constructor and can be adapted to individual cases,” – co-founder Dmytro Gazda said during the presentation of the startup in the finals of the Vernadsky Challenge engineering competition in 2019.
Time award
Time added the invention to the top 200 human inventions and called an arm prosthetic as an invention with high accuracy and one of the Lead Human Inventions in 2022. The robot works on an AI basis. There are 24 sensors inside it which detect and process muscle activity and brain impulses. That is, the longer a person uses a prosthesis, the smarter it becomes.
Help during the war
Moreover, Esper Bionics provided the initiative for Ukraine, where they help Ukrainians who received amputations as a result of the russian invasion to get a bionic prosthesis. Both military and civilians can get an Esper Hand by filling out a form on the website.
Esper for Ukraine team helps victims to choose a professional prosthetist, to undergo the rehabilitation, to install the Esper Bionic’s arm and quickly learn how to operate it. Prosthetics are funded by Esper Bionics and donor companies.
The company is working on improving and expanding its products. The next step is developing implants in the peripheral nervous system and near the muscles. The startup continues to grow. Esper Bionic’s smart implants are at very close quarters.
Read more about Ukrainian IT: Fintech, Cryptotech, Robotechnics: Investments in 2023