From Injury To Innovation: Building A Practical Myoelectric Hand with Ryan Saavedra

The Prosthetics and Orthotics Podcast

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We share a personal update and then dive into how injuries, curiosity, and tough feedback shaped a modular myoelectric hand that is lighter, repairable in minutes, and priced for wider access. Ryan Saavedra of Alt-Bionics walks through additive manufacturing choices, PDAC approval, and a roadmap linking prosthetics with humanoid robotics.
• user and clinician pain points shaping design choices
• modular finger architecture for fast field repairs
• nylon 12 and MJF for strength, weight, and cost
• tolerancing to reduce lash and improve reliability
• pricing philosophy, PDAC approval, and reimbursement nuance
• EMG control foundations, firmware over AI for stability
• balancing service bureaus vs in-house manufacturing
• funding from bootstrap to mission-aligned investors
• product roadmap focused on hands and higher DoF
• cross-pollination between prosthetics and robotics

Special thanks to Advanced 3D for sponsoring this episode.

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1. New Season, Personal Updates (00:00:00)

2. Meet Ryan And AltBionics (00:02:26)

3. Injuries That Shaped The Mission (00:03:56)

4. Designing For Cost And Repair (00:06:50)

5. Startup Hurdles And Validation (00:09:36)

6. Additive Manufacturing Breakthroughs (00:12:10)

7. CAD, EMG, And Control Systems (00:15:18)

8. Prototyping Choices And Speed (00:18:04)

9. Final Hand Materials And Weight (00:19:25)

10. Build Or Buy: Production Strategy (00:20:16)

11. Pricing Philosophy And Reimbursement (00:21:04)

12. PDAC Approval And Insurance Nuance (00:23:04)

13. Modular Fingers And Field Repairs (00:24:40)

14. Funding The Vision And Robotics Pivot (00:27:26)

15. Product Roadmap And Quality Bar (00:30:20)

16. Closing Thanks And Future Plans (00:33:04)