After Jaipur Foot, Now Comes the Jaipur Hand

Model of a Jaipur hand. (photo via IANS)

JAIPUR – After gaining global recognition with the Jaipur Foot which helped physically disabled people realize their dream to stand on their feet, the Pink City is garnering worldwide acclaim as students of a private university have created the prosthetic hand in its incubation center which is equipping amputees globally with prosthetic arms.

In fact, the start-up created two years back is now worth crores of rupees and is attracting laurels globally.

Says Prof. N.N. Sharma, pro-president, Manipal University Jaipur, “The story of conceptualization of prosthetic hands is very interesting. Two years back, Bhagwan Mahaveer Viklang Sahayata Samiti officials who knew our vice chancellor visited Manipal University and asked if we can start making prosthetic hands. They knew I had a robotics background.”

“We brought a prosthetic hand from China because it was less costly as compared to other parts of the world. The cost of one hand is around Rs 1 lakh. We want it to be affordable. So if you can make it here, the reach and affordability of prosthetic hands shall increase.

“We shared the idea with students and they started working on three dimensions of prosthetic hands – the first one was mechanics, the second was electronic and the third was myo, which was muscle operated and ideated on working on muscle signals. Work on this third format still continues,” he added.

Working on the electronic and mechanical dimension, the students rolled out Piltover Technology Pvt Ltd (an incubation of Manipal University Jaipur’s students) and brought down the cost of the prosthetic hand (from China) from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 15,000.

The startup was floated via our incubation center by Manan Issar who left his studies and jumped into his dream venture.

The other innovation we are ideating on is Nano swimmer robots. We are planning to start a lab here soon on nanotechnology to start working on further innovations, Sharma informed.