A prosthetic hand developed by Texas-based BrainRobotics won the top prize in the Design Intelligence Awards (DIA), an international academic award for industrial design. The BrainRobotics prosthetic hand allows users to use muscle impulses to control a bionic hand with ten joints, a powered thumb, 14 grips, and movable digits. The devices are made with aviation-grade aluminum alloy and food-grade plastic. An implanted electrode system controls the hand using forearm electromyography signals.
The two winners of the each received 1 million yuan (US $139, 969). A free-to-use Chinese braille phonetic custom font was the other winner. The competition attracted over 7,000 entries from 41 countries and regions. Forty-three percent of the projects were outside of China, where DIA is based.
“DIA never charges an admission fee in order to provide more opportunities for startups and young designers,” said Lu Tao, secretary general of the organization committee.
