R. A. RODRIGUEZ SUPPLIES KHK GEARS USED IN CUTTING-EDGE BIONIC HAND FROM AETHER BIOMEDICAL
Aether Biomedical, a Polish company that specialises in prosthetic and rehabilitation devices, is using KHK gears in the finger joints of its Zeus bionic hand. The worm and wheel pairs are supplied by KHK’s master distributor in the UK and Europe R. A. Rodriguez (UK) Ltd.
Founded in 2018, Aether Biomedical set out to build a commercial, affordable bionic hand, after identifying a gap in the prosthetics field. The company spent four years developing a human-centred design that would be strong, robust and agile.
‘With the support of Brinc’s Polish Prize Program, the founders opened a European office and assembled a team of driven professionals to create a bionic hand.’ Explains Aether Biomedical’s COO Marta Szymanowska. ‘Two years later, they launched the Zeus, a multi-articulating bionic hand.’
During this development process, Aether Biomedical’s engineers were looking for the perfect gears for their product and came across KHK worm and wheel gears in a catalogue.
‘They stood out not just because they fit our technical requirements perfectly, but also because of their exceptional performance specifications. Their maximum allowable torque was significantly higher than similar-sized gears from other suppliers—sometimes by several times over. This made them an ideal choice for our application, where reliability and strength are critical.’ Says Rafał Pilaczyński, Production Manager at Aether Biomedical.
The result has been revolutionary. The Zeus hand is strong, with over 150N of grip force and 35 kg lifting capacity. The impact resistance mechanism of Zeus allows fingers to flex when facing any impact, protecting them from breakage and increasing durability. Meanwhile, the Soft Grip feature enables a light touch, preventing the Zeus from unintentionally breaking fragile objects.
Since the launch of Zeus, Aether Biomedical has continued to use KHK worm and wheel gears in the hand’s finger joints.
‘Every part we’ve received has been of outstanding quality, without a single issue, making our decision to stick with them even easier.’ Says Pilaczyński.
Aether Biomedical has now launched Zeus V1 in the US market, following success in European markets including Poland, Germany and Benelux.
