Physicist Praveen Gowtham gets 1st Hero FLEX from Open Bionics
Praveen Gowtham, a 43-year-old physicist from the Bronx, just made history as the first person to receive Open Bionics's Hero FLEX, an above-the-elbow, 3-D-printed robotic arm.
Born with a birth defect that led to his right arm being amputated as a newborn, Gowtham had always found traditional prosthetics too heavy and limiting.
Prosthetic reads muscle signals with AI
Fitted last month, Hero FLEX has already made everyday tasks way easier for Gowtham: he can now open bottles and hold his dog's leash.
He shared, "But I think the real winner is that it's super lightweight and breathable — that's the major one."
Released in May 2026, this prosthetic uses robotics and AI to read muscle signals for natural movement.
Each arm is custom-made using 3-D scanning and weighs just 0.91kg; wireless sensors pick up muscle movements and turn them into hand actions almost instantly.