Zorpia Robot China’s Bionic Helping Hands

by Mo Qian

In 2015， bionic hands inde- pendently developed by Zorpia Robot were released. With the help of the myoelectric prosthetic hands， people with upper limb disabilities were able to perform motions like gripping， pinching and holding an object.

Established in 2014， Zorpia Robot is the first Chinese robotics company focused on developing robotic arms. With the mission of “making robots friends of mankind，” the company has focused on producing high-performance and reasonably priced bionic hands in China since its inception. The company has independently completed the structural design of prosthetic bionic hands， broken through a technological monopoly dominated by foreign companies， and produced products that can rival international competitors. After realizing mass production of its bionic hands， the company has continued to research and develop robots for use in other fields including industrial engineering， the service industry， healthcare and agriculture.

Wang Gang， doctoral supervisor at the School of Mechanical Engineering of Tianjin University and co-founder of Zorpia Robot， explained the working principle of bionic hands in detail. A bionic hand is an externally powered prosthesis often controlled by myoelectric signals， meaning it uses muscle signals in the patients residual limb to move the device. Electrodes are placed on the users bare skin above pre-selected muscle sites. When a user contracts these muscles， the electrodes pick up subtle changes in the electrical patterns and send these signals to a microprocessor which instructs the bionic hand to react and perform action. Serving people with limb disabilities， bionic hands should be able to learn new motions and soak up training.

Yang Yiyong is the vice head of the School of Engineering and Technology of China University of Geosciences. “Human upper limb joints and bones have at least 27 degrees of freedom，” he explains.“Timely and smart operation is extremely important for the design and control of bionic hands.”

Zorpia Robot is currently researching and developing its second-generation bionic hands which are able to achieve eight degrees of freedom instead of the previous five. The bionic hands can grasp or hold an object with five fingers， perform adduction and abduction， and close and open. One finger can work with the other fingers to grip or grasp an object and bend. And each finger can make independent motions. “Customers can use our products to type， make phone calls， put on clothes， open the door， hold a kettle or take out a name card，” says Qiu Yufeng， founder of Zorpia Robot. “Our second-generation bionic hands are capable of doing many things. We are now developing bionic gloves which can be connected to our bionic hands to provide power and data sharing. And the gloves can also improve the appearance of the bionic hands.”

Zorpia Robots competitiveness is primarily driven by the companys strong and professional R&D; and management team. A single bionic hand produced by Zorpia Robot is currently priced at around 10，000 yuan （US$1，440）， much cheaper than its international rivals. The reasonable price makes the product more affordable for more people with disabilities. The company is also working on a bionic hand platform. According to Qiu Yufeng， this platform is designed to provide electrical and mechanical interfaces which can be accessed by sensors and other devices. Professionals can make secondary development on this platform to provide people with disabilities a greater range of functionality for their bionic hands. Moreover， the platform will welcome access from mechanical devices， electric installations， and remote software algorithms which meet the platforms requirements. As a result， bionic hands produced by Zorpia Robot will be able to be used in more fields or in specific situations such as shoemaking， cooking and cake decoration.

“We are also firmly committed to solving safety problem related to robots during our R&D; process，”adds Qiu. “Our bionic hands are designed to execute software commands delivered through our self-developed security certificates. This makes them safer.” Qiu revealed that Zorpia Robot is a supporter and promoter of a robotic blockchain program called “MPC”that was launched by late British scientist Stephen Hawking （1942-2018）. “The goal of the program is to use blockchain as a cornerstone to establish a global robot security consensus charter for efficient monitoring and management of robots for security and safety concerns.”

In 2015， Zorpia Robot found a home in Rizhao Shibei Economic Development Zone in Rizhao City， Shandong Province. As part of the municipal governments “International Highcaliber Professionals” project， the company received start-up capital of 2.2 million yuan （US$320，000）， a 200-square-meter work space and free employee housing for three years. Bionic hands developed by Zorpia Robot are more than just a product or a project for the development zone. The company introduced the concepts of automation and robotics to the area. By welcoming the brand， Rizhao Shibei Economic Development Zone hopes to attract more professionals to form a platform to cultivate innovative talent in science and technology.