Hominid X

Hominid X develops transformative assistive grasping devices to help individuals with hand disabilities to gain greater functional independence.

Team Size:
5
Location:
United States
Founders:
Thane Hunt
Program(s):

The Problem

Millions of people worldwide live with a grasping and holding disability. Conditions such as stroke, ALS, and spinal cord injury (to name a few) can reduce hand mobility, which affects a person's ability to perform tasks such as eating, drinking, bathing, and socializing. There is a wide functional and economical gap between low-end and high-end wearable solutions for people with hand disabilities. Hominid X is on a mission to address this by leveraging modern manufacturing practices combined with a customer-centric design refinement process to keep product costs low while maintaining usefulness and versatility.

The Solution

Our first product, Fiber, is a wearable grasping aid that straps onto the user's hand. The product is low profile, fully adjustable, and works on the left or right hand. When in use, it creates a contracting force that guides the user's fingers into a strong, safe, and compliant grasp that can be used to hold objects as small as a paperclip, or as large as a water bottle. Fiber is made almost entirely of soft, skin-safe silicone rubber and does not require batteries or charging to operate. This product combines the proven simplicity of legacy products (such as simple universal cuffs, or strapped utensils) with the function and versatility of advanced motorized hand braces.