Earlier this month, techSPARK’s very own Ben Shorrock sat down with Open Bionics CEO and co-founder, Samantha Payne at a Health Tech themed South West Founders to discuss the fascinating journey Sammy and her team have embarked on creating bionic limbs over the past decade.
The premise of Open Bionics is to transform disabilities into superpowers. In 2014, Sammy and her co-founder Joel Gibbard had the novel idea to build a robotic arm, using state-of-the-art technology such as 3D scanning, modelling and printing, that would prove to be life-changing for individuals with limb differences.
At the time, Sammy was 23 and working as a journalist. She met Joel, who was already a Robotics Engineer, through interviewing him for a piece. As Sammy was experimenting with 3D printing technology and its capabilities, the two struck an idea to combine the disciplines in a way that had never been done before.
“I would speak to robotics experts who categorically said you will never achieve this”
The financial disparity in accessing prosthetic limbs was an obvious injustice to Sammy, who grew up on a Knowle West council estate. Motivated to incite real change through technology, Open Bonics was born. Neither Sammy nor Joel have a limb difference, so next on the agenda was a whole load of market research.
In its humble beginnings, Open Bionics was given space by the University of the West of England to conduct technological research. From here, they laid the foundations to raise over £10m in investment, deliver over 600 Hero Arms across the globe, establish a one of its kind collaboration with Disney and get a shoutout from Barack Obama.
Entrepreneurial spirit
“I’m incredibly impatient,” proclaims Sammy. She identifies this as a key entrepreneurial trait. It’s led her to creatively solve problems, even in instances when others have promised her solutions, she tells us that she can’t wait around for maybes to become realities.
To illustrate this proactive approach, Sammy tells us an anecdote about working with the UK Government to make the Hero Arm widely available to everyone who needed it. Finance has always been a huge barrier in providing solutions for people with limb differences. To make it more accessible, they needed to incite change in national policy.
Sammy says Boris Johnson was surprisingly instrumental to moving the needle on this, after being directly lobbied by the team. But passing through policies is famously slow, “I couldn’t sit around and wait for that to happen,” she tells us. Instead, she established the Open Bionics Foundation to crowdfund for the first time, successfully raising £1m.
“I also cannot take no for an answer,” Sammy tells the audience. “You will get 400 ‘no’s’ for one ‘yes’, and you have to learn to be OK with this. I would speak to robotics experts who categorically said you will never achieve this, it’s impossible.”
Sammy had a few stigmas stacked against her, “People would say, what is a journalist doing in robotics?” and coupled with being a young woman in tech, she says there were several moments when she almost stopped believing in herself.
However, she goes on to say that being young wasn’t a complete disadvantage. “People really want to watch you succeed. Your naivety is endearing and almost infectious; people just want to help. Take your passion and invite others to join you, because it’s a decade later, and I’m still surrounded by those early believers.
“When you’re young it’s really easy to discount yourself and let doubt seep in. Back yourself because you know more than you think; you are the expert in what you’re doing. And always throw your hands up and admit accountability when things go wrong.”
Building a sentimental product
Open Bionics has an inherent difference in that it provides a product entrenched in emotion, sentimentality and intimacy. Crucially, the team’s recognition of this has set them apart from all competitors in the sector.
What’s clear when Sammy speaks is the passion she has for the user experience. Her genuine care and concern has ricocheted through the business, resulting in an end product that wholly serves the user.
“We built these arms to rewrite the social stigma around disabilities. We don’t try to blend in; we trey to stand out”
To get to this point, Sammy explains that the Hero Arm was co-created with limb difference users. “We found that the first prototype was really what Joel wanted to build, primarily from a robotics perspective. But this didn’t translate and we had to adapt our approach,” Sammy says.
So they set out to speak to as many people as possible, “Ultimately the conclusion was that people wanted enough functionality to do most activities, without increasing the weight.” Comfort was the most important, non-compromisable feature. Everything else had to follow from this.
Moreover, Open Bionics identified a gap in the market for customisation: “People want individuality, and so we give users control over aesthetics, allowing people to select different colour combinations for example. This is what sets us apart from our competitors. We were the first company to realise and action this feature.”
Transforming lives with bionic limbs
Open Bionics has become somewhat famous for the aesthetics of its Hero Arms, no doubt thanks to its Disney deal.
When brainstorming how Open Bionics could celebrate having a limb difference, in contrast to the approach most prosthetic limbs take in hiding the disability, the team thought, how cool would it be to have a light saber arm? Or an Iron Man hand?
Before they knew it, the Open Bionics team was cammed into a tiny LA flat, sleeping on sofas and the floor, whilst working intensely to pitch to Disney Execs for the IP usage of these iconic films.
“The first time I picked up a ball with my Hero Arm and held it, it felt like having a superpower”
“To win their hearts and minds, we brought in two children wearing their Luke Skywalker bionic arms.” Sammy and Joel didn’t need to tell the board how much these children loved their arms, it was written across their faces. How could you say no to that?
“They’ve since publicly clarified they won’t be striking up a deal like this ever again,” Sammy laughs. “Business wise, it was a terrible decision. We make a loss on each Disney arm sold, but of course we’d do it all again.
“We built these arms to rewrite the social stigma around disabilities,” underscores Sammy. “We don’t try to blend in, we stand out.”
And now children as young as five can enjoy the benefits of a Hero Arm. The BBC recently reported on Jordan’s life changing Iron Man arm, which was an “instant confidence boost.” This is just one heartwarming story of many, demonstrating the real impact Open Bionics has.
Ten years on an Open Bionics has been through quite the journey. In a more recent move, the team has begun opening clinics across the US to pivot from being a standalone manufacturer of bionic limbs, to being a clinical provider. Of course, the first UK clinic had to be based here in Bristol.
One user of the Bristol clinic, Caroline Coster, tell us, “My Open Bionics clinical experience has been really amazing. The first time I picked up a ball with my Hero Arm and held it, it felt like having a superpower. Having the technical and clinical expertise as part of the prosthesis fitting process was really incredible as I was able to see how the Hero Arm could be customised to meet my personal needs.”
Despite scaling internationally, Bristol remains an integral aspect of Open Bionics’ identity: “Bristol’s culture has infected our company’s culture. We’re an infusion of hardware tech and art; where else would a product like this be created?!”
After sharing this fascinating story, Sammy leaves the South West Founders audience with some parting wisdom: “Surf the winds of change, it’s the only guarantee. There are so many variables outside of your control. Do your best, but don’t get bogged down in the externals.”
