In a clinic in England, a teenage girl watched her bionic hand crawl across a table. Detached from her own arm, it was moving toward her phone. It’s almost like science fiction, but this was very much a real demonstration of groundbreaking prosthetics.
Tilly Lockey, a 19-year-old influencer and double amputee, has been working with the British startup Open Bionics for nearly a decade. This month, she became one of the first people to try the company’s latest invention: the Hero PRO, a wireless, waterproof bionic arm that can even move on its own.
“I can move it around even when it’s not attached to the arm,” Lockey said in an interview with Reuters. “It can just go on its own missions — which is kinda crazy.”
Engineering a New Kind of Independence
The Hero PRO and its rugged counterpart, the Hero RGD, are the result of four years and $2.5 million of research and development. They build on Open Bionics’ original Hero Arm, a 3D-printed prosthetic celebrated for its affordability and versatility. But the new models push the boundaries much further.
Unlike many high-end prosthetics that require surgically implanted chips, Open Bionics’ devices are operated through MyoPods — wireless electromyography (EMG) sensors that rest on the skin and pick up subtle muscle signals. This non-invasive approach offers amputees control without medical complications.
Using these sensors, Lockey can perform basic movements with two simple gestures: a squeezing motion to close the hand, and a flexing motion to open it. More complex gestures are controlled through a built-in “menu system.” The real marvel, though, is in the performance.
“I now have 360-degree rotation in my wrists, I can flex them too,” Lockey said. “There literally isn’t a single other arm that can do this. No other arm is wireless and waterproof, and it’s faster than everything else and it’s still the lightest bionic hand available.”
The Hero PRO is designed for everyday users, while the Hero RGD caters to more demanding environments. Conor Cox, a farmer in Kansas who tested the rugged model, praised its durability: “I’ve been using the Hero RGD from sun up to sun down for tasks around the farm… Whether it’s scooping things out of bunks, shovelling straw, carrying buckets of grain, or working with water. I love that I don’t have to switch prosthetics, this hand does all, lift heavy, waterproof, solid grip.”
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Redefining Bionic Hands
Every component, including the battery, is ingeniously packed into the palm. According to Samantha Payne, CEO and co-founder of Open Bionics, this allows the hand to be fully waterproof — solving a long-standing problem that has haunted amputees using older, less resilient devices.
“The design pushes the very boundaries of what is physically possible,” Payne said. “All componentry is held in the palm of the hand, making it the first design ever built to house a battery enabling wireless control and importantly enabling amputees to be able to get it wet without worrying about frying electronics.”
The innovation extends to versatility as well. Using a military-standard wrist connector, users can detach the hand and attach a sport-specific tool within seconds. No longer do they need to carry multiple prosthetic arms for different activities. One device can adapt seamlessly from the office to the gym.
The release of the Hero PRO and Hero RGD also marks Open Bionics’ 10th anniversary, celebrating over 1,000 users worldwide. Their bionic arms are regulated by agencies like the FDA and approved for funding through programs such as Medicare and Medicaid. They even offer customizable magnetic covers featuring designs from beloved superheroes like Iron Man, adding a personal — and empowering — touch.
For Lockey, the emotional impact of these upgrades is as profound as the technological leap.
“When I first put them on… I was, like, crushing everything,” she said, laughing. “I’m not used to being that strong yet.”
Bionic limbs have come a long way from clunky mechanical hooks and rigid prosthetic hands. Devices like the ones from Open Bionics stand at the forefront of a shift toward intuitive, accessible, and life-enhancing technology for amputees.
It’s a journey that stretches back decades — from early myoelectric hands in the 1960s to the multi-grip prosthetics of the early 2000s — and yet, a wireless, waterproof, rotating hand that can crawl across a table felt like sci-fi. Until now.
For people like Tilly Lockey, that future has already arrived.
