31st October 2025
Tilly Lockey’s bionic hand crawled across a table during a morning show interview, sparking comments online about how and why it worked. The remotely controlled hand looked like movie magic, but it was actually the culmination of five years of research and development into water resistance and wireless innovations, driven entirely by user feedback. One question stood out from years of collective input: Can I wash my bionic hand?
“Water resistance was one of the earliest requests,” said Damian Axford, Head of Research and Development at Open Bionics. “It was never about making it waterproof for swimming. It was about removing the anxiety of daily life. You should be able to wash your hands, cook, or get caught in the rain and not think twice.”
That goal was the foundation for our R&D team’s next phase of innovation.
“We didn’t even know if waterproofing was technically possible at first,” said Steve Wood, Principal Mechanical Designer at Open Bionics. “But the challenge excited us because every improvement meant more independence for our users.” Our R&D team knew from the beginning that to make something waterproof, there couldn’t be wires.
From there, the team rethought everything from battery placement to socket design and the wrist connection. “We started with a comprehensive list of user requests,” Steve said. “What mattered most varied across the board, but we aimed for balance.”
Most of the feedback focused on everyday challenges familiar to our upper-limb difference community. Many people wanted light, breathable sockets that didn’t trap heat or perspiration during long hours of wear. Others asked for a sleek design without a bulky battery pack that could fit through coat sleeves. Clinicians needed a way to streamline consultations and fitting appointments. Across nearly every survey, there was a shared desire for improved durability with water resistance.
In earlier designs, batteries were housed inside or attached to the outside of the socket, with wires running to the hand’s motors. This also increased fabrication time because each new prosthesis required custom wiring paths.
To achieve waterproofing, the battery was sealed in the hand itself, eliminating the need for power cables, while also drastically reducing the design and fabrication times for each socket. This left only the problem of the myoelectric sensors for detecting muscle signals. The R&D team solved this with the development of MyoPods, which are wireless, rechargeable and bluetooth compatible sensors.
Watch Tilly assemble a Hero PRO hand with the Hero FLEX socket and MyoPods.
The bionic hand became entirely wireless through the process of trying to make it waterproof. Removing the need for wires in the socket also opened up an opportunity to make the arm much stronger.
“Because of the freedom that wireless gives us, we had the choice of what wrist adapter to use,” Damian said. “We could have invented our own, but interoperability matters to us. We wanted people to use a connector that they were already familiar with and worked with existing attachments.”
This approach is part of our design philosophy, which focuses on the democratization of technology. “We design everything to last,” Damian said. “Avoiding planned obsolescence is part of our ethos.”
“
We’ve had users bench press 330 pounds using the Hero Flex with Activity Attachments. You couldn’t do that with a wired wrist connector.
”
Without the need for delicate electrical connectors inside the wrist, the R&D team upgraded the wrist to a solid titanium and stainless steel USMC connector, expanding the socket’s capabilities to an entire ecosystem of Activity Attachments. The Hero Flex was born–a lightweight, breathable socket that is completely water safe.
“That change made the wrist mechanically robust,” Steve said. “We’ve had users bench press 330 pounds using the Hero Flex with Activity Attachments. You couldn’t do that with a wired wrist connector.”
The end result was the development of two advanced bionic hands unlike anything that had come before.
The Hero PRO was developed as a lightweight, high-performance bionic hand built for precision and speed. Made from durable Nylon PA12 through advanced 3D printing, it includes a touchscreen-compatible fingertip, seven customizable grip modes, intuitive thumb articulation, and a full day of use on a four-hour charge. Rated to IPX7, it can withstand temporary submersion in one meter of water, allowing users to cook, clean, or get caught in the rain without concern.
The Hero RGD extends that design for rugged performance. Rated to IPX8 for full waterproofing, it can be used in the shower or the pool. Built from Nylon PA12 and titanium, it lifts up to 77 pounds, resists impacts with a shock-absorbing palm, and uses five brushless motors that close the fingers in less than half a second.
The wireless design of our bionic hands also made fittings more intuitive for clinicians. “The ability to control the hand wirelessly during fittings has completely changed the patient experience,” said Elise Dreiling, Director of Clinical Operations and Certified Prosthetist at the Open Bionics clinic in Lakewood, Colorado. “Before, we had to connect everything with cables and extra hardware. Now patients can see the hand respond to their own muscle signals within seconds using the wireless MyoPod sensors. It’s often the first time a patient realizes how intuitive the controls can feel. It turns a technical fitting into a meaningful moment.”
A viral moment on a morning show may have looked like a fun parlor trick, but the real magic was the feedback from our users that made every innovation possible. You asked for a prosthesis that fits comfortably, resists water and damage, and adapts to different lifestyles. Our clinicians wanted fittings that were faster and simpler. That feedback shaped the wireless, water-resistant designs we have today.
“When people see the Hero RGD moving in a bowl of water or crawling across a table, that’s not a gimmick,” Wood said. “It’s proof of design and a direct result of listening to our users.”
English 
USA 
German