Case study: Bionic hand enables Paralympian to remotely update the device with new gestures seamlessly

Australian swimmer Jessica Smith has had an uneasy relationship with prosthetics since a childhood accident, but her convictions are being challenged by a British bionic hand that can be updated remotely anywhere in the world.

The 2004 Athens Paralympian was born without a left hand. Her parents were advised to fit a prosthesis to help with her development, but the device caused her to upset a boiling kettle when she was a toddler, causing burns to 15 percent of her body.

“There’s always been an association between the fact this prosthetic aid didn’t actually help, it created the most traumatic event in my life,” she said.

But her curiosity was sparked when she was approached by UK-based COVVI to try its “revolutionary” myo-electric hand.

Knowing it would be an emotional challenge, Jessica was fitted with the device in April at the age of 37.

“I think that I was ready to try something like this,” she added.

This advanced form of bionic hand converts electrical impulses from the muscles in the upper arm into movement powered by motors in the hand, enabling its user perform a variety of tasks that would be impossible, or more difficult, without one.

Simon Pollard, who founded COVVI five years ago, said he wanted to improve the connection between the company’s in-house engineers, the clinicians, and their users.

In the past, bionic hands would often need to be sent back for small adjustments and firmware updates, which would leave the end-user without a prosthetic for weeks. But COVVI’s hand can utilise Bluetooth connectivity to link with the COVVI Go App, allow the user to adjust the sensitivity of different triggers, assign new grips, and much more at any time.

A new feature called ‘Remote Assist’ was recently added to the app, which allows the company’s specialists to create a private one-to-one session with a user and guide them through this process. This helps remove the need to go to a clinic for minor issues and updates, ultimately ensuring clinicians have more time to provide more comprehensive support for their patients.

“The fact we can change some of the things that the customer wants remotely is a really powerful thing and a first to market,” the chief executive said.

Some rival bionic hands can be app-controlled, but Simon explained the ability to talk to a single device set the COVVI Hand apart. To do that, anonymised data is collected for every user, a task managed by partner NetApp.

Jessica, who is a speaker and children’s author, added that COVVI was already creating new movements for her.

“I’ve had a few kids ask if I can do different hand gestures, some polite some not so polite. I asked COVVI this morning, and I know that will be done in the next couple of hours.”

She said the technology was not just changing her life, but it was changing the lives of her three children.

“They think it’s amazing and I’m like half human-half robot,” she enthused.

She said the “bionic” appearance of the hand was an attraction, given her pride in difference.

“I’m not trying to hide who I am,” she concluded. “I’m adding and expanding on who I am by being able to access technology that’s never been available before.”