Aadeel Akhtar (born 15 January 1987) is a neuroscientist and electrical engineer. He is CEO and founder of the bionics company PSYONIC. In 2021, he was named one of

MIT Technology Review ''MIT Technology Review'' is a bimonthly magazine wholly owned by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. It was founded in 1899 as ''The Technology Review'', and was re-launched without "''The''" in its name on April 23, 1998, under then pu ...

’s 35 Innovators Under 35 and was featured in Newsweek’s “America's 50 Greatest Disruptors: Visionaries Who Are Changing the World.”

Academic career

Akhtar earned his Ph.D. in Neuroscience and M.S. in Electrical & Computer Engineering from the

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC, U of I, Illinois, or University of Illinois) is a public land-grant research university in the Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area, Illinois, United States. Established in 1867, it is the f ...

in 2016. He received a B.S. in Biology in 2007 and M.S. in Computer Science in 2008 at Loyola University Chicago.

PSYONIC

The company's first product, the Ability Hand, is the fastest bionic hand in the world with sensors that attach to the users’ remaining limb, allowing them to control the hand with their arm muscles. It is also the first hand on the market to give users touch feedback, so they can feel what sensors in the fingertips are experiencing, and it is covered by Medicare. In early 2024, PSYONIC completed a $3.1 million crowdfunded equity raise and earned a $1 million offer on ABC's Shark Tank from

Lori Greiner Lori Greiner () is an American television personality and entrepreneur. She is known for her QVC show ''Clever & Unique Creations'' (2000–present) for which she has been called the "Queen of QVC", and for being an investor on the reality series ...

Daymond John Daymond Garfield John (born February 23, 1969) is an American businessman, investor, and television personality. He is an investor on the ABC reality television series '' Shark Tank''. He is the founder, president, and chief executive officer of ...

, and Kevin O’Leary. Akhtar launched PSYONIC in 2015 while a graduate student at UIUC. He says that he was first inspired to work on affordable and accessible prosthetic limbs when he met an amputee as a child on a family trip to

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

. The company offers a research version of their bionic hand that is used by organizations like Apptronik,

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...

, and

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. Two of the top five finishers in the ANA AVATAR

XPRIZE XPRIZE Foundation is a non-profit organization that designs and hosts public competitions intended to encourage technological development. The XPRIZE mission is to bring about "radical breakthroughs for the benefit of humanity" through incentiv ...

used PSYONIC Ability Hands. Akhtar and PSYONIC also develop artificial tendons and collaborate with

Northwestern University Northwestern University (NU) is a Private university, private research university in Evanston, Illinois, United States. Established in 1851 to serve the historic Northwest Territory, it is the oldest University charter, chartered university in ...

’s John Rogers on flexible patches that provide haptic feedback through the skin for augmented reality applications.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Akhtar, Aadeel American neuroscientists American technology executives Inventors from Illinois Scientists from Illinois Living people People from Streamwood, Illinois 1987 births