Alt-Bionics , founded by UTSA alumnus Ryan Saavedra, recently announced a $25,000 pre-seed investment made by Alamo Angels , a San Antonio based angel investor network. While studying electrical engineering at UTSA, Saavedra developed a bionic hand prototype for below-elbow amputees and those with congenital disorders.
The original prototype was entered in the UTSA College of Engineering’s May 2020 Tech Symposium , where it placed second overall. Saavedra and his team were able to adapt open-source robotics and develop their prototype for less than $700, a small fraction of a typical development budget for similar technologies.
Building on this success, Saavedra founded Alt-Bionics, which aims to “apply new, advanced, and low-cost technology to medical devices in order to display the capabilities that are similar in both form and function to higher-priced devices.”
While the company currently specializes in the manufacturing of bionic hands, their vision statement indicates plans to expand into other areas of prosthetics.
