PSYONIC Creates a Bionic Hand Thanks to 3D Printing

Traumatic limb amputation affects over 50 million people globally. Many opt to adopt prostheses, but integrating them into daily life can be a challenging journey, filled with both physical and emotional hurdles. These devices significantly influence the way individuals engage with their surroundings—whether it’s driving independently, participating in sports, or simply performing everyday tasks at home. At the core of this journey is autonomy. However, the reality of traditional prostheses is often disappointing. They can be basic, costly, and fragile, limiting accessibility for many. In fact, only around 10 percent of patients who need an advanced prosthetic arm can afford one. Yet, recent technological innovations offer a promising path forward, bringing renewed hope for those in need of prosthetic solutions.

PSYONIC, founded by Dr. Aadeel Akhtar, is leading the way in advancing prosthetic technology. The company’s mission is to make high-quality, high-performance robotic limbs accessible to everyone. Through cutting-edge 3D printing, PSYONIC has successfully developed a bionic hand that promises to transform the prosthetics landscape. We spoke with PSYONIC’s founder and CEO, Aadeel Akhtar, to delve deeper into this groundbreaking innovation and explore how 3D printing is enhancing the autonomy and quality of life for amputees.

3DN: Can you present PSYONIC and share your link with Additive Manufacturing?

PSYONIC is dedicated to developing cutting-edge robotic limbs, offering accessibility to both humans and robots. Since the beginning of our venture, one of our priorities has been to make our devices accessible through additive manufacturing technology. Over the past nine years, we have perfected our flagship product, the Ability Hand bionic hand, through nine successive iterations. Our beginnings were marked by the free 3D printing of hand models using FDM technology. Gradually, we moved towards designing our own models.

This approach has given us solid experience in using low-cost additive manufacturing to produce state-of-the-art bionic limbs. However, following ongoing discussions with patients and healthcare professionals, we identified the major problem they were experiencing: their high-end prostheses, custom-made by injection molding and machining, had a tendency to break due to their rigid composition. To solve this problem, we opted for a more flexible robotics approach, integrating materials such as silicone and rubber to complement the 3D-manufactured internal components, to confer greater resistance to impact. At the same time, we have introduced advanced technologies, such as SLA and SLS printing, into the manufacturing of our final products.