Grant: Alliance Grants

Myoelectric controlled-arms allow upper-limb amputees to recover abilities and functionality, and thus improve their autonomy and quality of life compared to traditional body-powered prostheses. The myoelectric controller arms currently on the market do not fulfill promises. In addition to being very expensive and not comfortable, they reproduce the hand gestures desired by the end-users with little fidelity and are difficult to control. BIO6 Inc., a Canadian start-up, has set itself the mission to increase the acceptance rate of myoelectric prostheses by improving the comfort, intuitiveness and accessibility, which have been identified as three major causes of rejection. BIO6's approach consists of taking the end-users' feedback into account in the development of their new product leveraging the spectacular developments in artificial intelligence and biomedical instrumentation. Leveraging a multidisciplinary expertise, a long successful track record, and an international collaboration, the goal of this project is to design, manufacture and test a robust and inexpensive prototype of the BIO6 myoelectric controlled arm within 2 years. This international collaboration counts on a multidisciplinary team, including four universities, two research Chairs, and two partner organizations representing the industry and the public sector in biomedical technology and rehabilitation in Canada. They will design and test new myoelectric control strategies drawing from advanced medical instrumentation and machine learning that will improve comfort and intuitiveness of myoelectric prostheses leading to a higher acceptance rate and quality of life for the end-users. This partnership with prosthetic device start-up BIO6 Inc. and clinical partner CIUSSS Capitale-Nationale will lead to actionable results and strong real-world impact through close cooperation. BIO6 will leverage this collaboration to quickly transform the results into the next-generation prostheses product that will better addresses amputee needs and will be less expensive. Public partner CIUSSS will pave the way for a successful acceptance and transfer to the end-users by overseeing and guide all design phases and by supervising the test and the validation of prototypes with volunteers.