A social media star has helped develop the world's most advanced robotic arm - designed over four years with £2m research.

Amputee singer and model Tilly Lockey, 19, says she feels like a 'superhero' thanks to the new bionic technology.

She lost both hands to meningitis as a baby but now has new robotic limbs which are

twice as fast as others and the only in the world that are waterproof.

Influencer Tilly says she can finally 'multi task' thanks to the 'Hero Pro' by Bristol-based robotics company Open Bionics who she has worked with since she was nine.

Open Bionics has now launched the state-of-the-art Hero RGD and Hero PRO bionic hands.

It spent £2m and four years on research and development incorporating feedback from around 1,000 existing Hero Arm users.

Tilly was "instrumental" in the development of the new technology and said she couldn’t believe how much more advanced the new Hero Pro hands are.

Tilly said she can now do simple things like ''pull a suitcase and drink hot chocolate at the same time''.

A teen model amputee has helped develop the world's most state-of-the-art robotic arms - designed over four years and £2m research. Music and social media star Tilly Lockey, 19, says she feels like a 'superhero' thanks to the new bionic technology. She lost both hands to meningitis as a baby but now has new robotic limbs which are the only in the world that are waterproof. Bristol. April 02 2025. Release date – April 3, 2025. Influencer Tilly says she can finally 'multi task' thanks to the 'Hero Pro' by Bristol-based robotics company Open Bionics who she has worked with since she was nine. Open Bionics has now launched the state-of-the-art Hero RGD and Hero PRO bionic hands. It spent £2m and four years on research and development incorporating feedback from around 1,000 existing Hero Arm users.
A teen model amputee has helped develop the world's most state-of-the-art robotic arms - designed over four years and £2m research (Tom Wren / SWNS)

She said: "The arms launched today are completely wireless!

''I can remove my own hand and have it crawl across a table and back to me controlling it via the wireless sensors in my socket. You just can’t imagine how epic this tech is.

"I now have 360 rotation in my wrists, I can flex them too. There literally isn’t a single other arm that can do this."

Tilly, originally from Newcastle but currently living in Bath in Somerset, said the new arms “feel really next level” due to the speed and strength.

She said: “They are more like sci-fi come to life which is what we have been hoping for every since I can remember.

“I have been playing with them in the lab but this is the first time I’ve been out and about using them in the day so it has been really fun.

''I’m still learning a little bit. I’m getting the gist. I’m not used to being this strong. All the possibilities are racing around my head of what I will be able to do.

“It is such a big thing to look down and be able to have hands. I talk a lot with my hands so to be able to gesture with them is really cool.

''I do a lot of speaking on stage and singing as well so they literally allow me to hold the microphone and be able to express myself and do other things with my other hand.

“I am a double amputee and one thing that I had never been able to do which is so simple is multi-task.

''To be able to pull a suitcase and drink hot chocolate at the same time is like something that everybody does and probably takes for granted but for me it has never been that easy - with the Hero Pros it is.

A teen model amputee has helped develop the world's most state-of-the-art robotic arms - designed over four years and £2m research. Music and social media star Tilly Lockey, 19, says she feels like a 'superhero' thanks to the new bionic technology. She lost both hands to meningitis as a baby but now has new robotic limbs which are the only in the world that are waterproof. Bristol. April 02 2025. Release date – April 3, 2025. Influencer Tilly says she can finally 'multi task' thanks to the 'Hero Pro' by Bristol-based robotics company Open Bionics who she has worked with since she was nine. Open Bionics has now launched the state-of-the-art Hero RGD and Hero PRO bionic hands. It spent £2m and four years on research and development incorporating feedback from around 1,000 existing Hero Arm users.
A teen model amputee has helped develop the world's most state-of-the-art robotic arms - designed over four years and £2m research (Tom Wren / SWNS)

“They make me feel like a superhero - that’s what it is all about. They have done so much for my confidence.''

Founded by CEOs and Co Founders, Samantha Payne MBE and Joel Gibbard MBE, Open Bionics has won a string of prestigious global awards and recognition for robotics and engineering.

Last year the pair, from Bristol, were recognised by HRH Princess Anne with the Princess Royal Silver Medal award at the Royal Academy of Engineering for their contribution to British engineering and innovation.

The new innovations come as the company celebrates 10 years of operations and reaching over 1,000 users of their bionic technology.

Open Bionics was founded to increase the accessibility of advanced bionic technology.

Founded in 2014, the company made progress by utilising 3D scanning and 3D printing, radically reducing the cost of multi-grip bionic hands for amputees with their first product, the Hero Arm.

Every device made by Open Bionics is completely custom and regulated by medical

standards and institutions like the MHRA in England, and the FDA in America.

In America, which is the British company’s fastest growing market, the devices are funded by state healthcare Medicare and Medicaid.

In 2018, Hero Arm users, with support from Open Bionics, successfully lobbied for NHS England to change a national policy that prevented British amputees from accessing this technology.

From today, all amputees in England can access this tech via NHS England.

Samantha said: "It’s a very exciting time for everyone at Open Bionics and our community in the UK, US, and Germany in particular. This has been years of hard work.

A teen model amputee has helped develop the world's most state-of-the-art robotic arms - designed over four years and £2m research. Music and social media star Tilly Lockey, 19, says she feels like a 'superhero' thanks to the new bionic technology. She lost both hands to meningitis as a baby but now has new robotic limbs which are the only in the world that are waterproof. Bristol. April 02 2025. Release date – April 3, 2025. Influencer Tilly says she can finally 'multi task' thanks to the 'Hero Pro' by Bristol-based robotics company Open Bionics who she has worked with since she was nine. Open Bionics has now launched the state-of-the-art Hero RGD and Hero PRO bionic hands. It spent £2m and four years on research and development incorporating feedback from around 1,000 existing Hero Arm users.
A teen model amputee has helped develop the world's most state-of-the-art robotic arms - designed over four years and £2m research (Tom Wren / SWNS)

"The design pushes the very boundaries of what is physically possible. All componentry is held in the palm of the hand, making it the first design ever built to house a battery enabling wireless control and importantly enabling amputees to be able to get it wet without worrying about frying electronics - something that has plagued amputees with bionic hands for a very long time.

"It also enables amputees to disconnect their bionic hand and swap it out for a sport attachment.

''At the moment, arm amputees carry multiple arms around during the day to be able to access different activities like the workplace and then the gym.

"Now, you just need one wireless arm and you can use any attachment you like, bionic hand, or sport attachment. No more lugging around multiple arms."

The Hero Arm devices use wireless EMG electrodes called MyoPods that sit on top of an amputee’s arm and read their muscle signals, those signals are picked up by the MyoPods and command the bionic fingers to move.

The devices are the only bionic limbs available where children and adults can alter their appearance by magnetic covers in the style of officially licensed superhero designs like Iron Man.

Open Bionics is headquartered in Bristol, England where they design and manufacture all their products.

Children and adults with below-elbow limb differences can register interest at

www.openbionics.com