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, from Newcastle, UK 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.
Amputee singer and model Tilly Lockey, 19, from Newcastle, UK 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.
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00:00My name's Tilly, I'm originally from Newcastle, North East of England, but I've just recently moved to Bath.
00:05So when I was born I was completely happy, healthy baby, had all four limbs, and it was when I was 15 months old
00:11that I contracted a terrible disease called meningococcal septicaemia strain B,
00:17which is like the inflammation of the membranes around the base of the spine and the brain.
00:21That can often bring on septicaemia, which is a blood poisoning, and together they are just
00:26absolutely lethal, like fatal. I was ultimately given 0% chance of survival. I was told I was
00:31going to die, so it was honestly like a miracle that I was able to survive, but they did have to
00:36amputate my hands. It hasn't turned out too bad because now I get to wear these super cool Hero
00:41Pros, brand new. So yeah, it's been a journey ever since, but my life is pretty good now.
00:48Don't get me wrong, I love the Hero Arm. Me and the Hero Arm, we go way back. I'm probably
00:53sentimental about them and I'm always going to keep them. They're not getting trashed in the bin now,
00:57but these ones do feel just like really next level. These ones feel very much more like sci-fi
01:03come to life, which is what we've been hoping for ever since I can remember. So it is really
01:09cool, like the speed and the strength of them. Today is the first time I've been playing
01:13with them in the lab, but this is the first time I've been out and about using them
01:18in the day, so it's been really, really fun and I'm still learning a little bit. I'm getting
01:23the gist. I'm not used to being this strong, but it's fun and all the possibilities
01:29are racing around in my head of what I'll be able to do. They help so much physically
01:33and mentally. I think it's just a big thing to just look down and be able to have hands.
01:37I talk a lot with my hands, so to be able to gesture with them is really, really cool. I do a
01:41lot of speaking on stage and singing as well, so they literally allow me to hold that microphone
01:46and be able to express myself and do other things with my other hand, which obviously if I
01:50didn't have them I'd be quite restricted in that way, and that's what I kind of do for a
01:54living now, so they've changed the game massively there. I think the other thing for me is obviously
01:59I'm a double amputee. A lot of people are only missing the one hand, but when I'm a double amputee
02:04it's like when I'm wearing them I'm fully reliant on them. One thing that I've never
02:08been able to do, which is so simple, is just multitask. To be able to pull a suitcase and
02:13drink hot chocolate at the same time is something that everybody does and probably takes for
02:17granted, but for me it's never been that easy. With the Hero Pro it is. I do wear them every day.
02:22Sometimes I wear just the one, and it depends, right or left, whatever vibe I'm feeling that day.
02:27Sometimes I wear both of them. I'm very, very flexible with them, so I'll put them on every day.
02:32I'm not constantly wearing them all day. They're very much on and off throughout the day, but
02:37I wear them every day, and so I'm always on speed dials at Open Bionics with all my critiques
02:43and my praise to get the next ones even better. It's been about five years, I think,
02:49these ones in the making, and so it's just amazing to see some of those features come to life
02:54now, and other people all around are going to be able to benefit from it. I'm not an engineer
02:58at all, and I kind of wish I was because what they do is so flip and cool, but to just even
03:03be slightly involved in it and be able to give feedback and no more day I like more than just
03:09getting invited to the lab to chuck things around and just experiment, that's what it's all about.
03:14To see features that I've spoken about be implemented and then to see people in other
03:19countries say that's their favorite feature and it really helps them on the day-to-day,
03:23that's what it's all about. Honestly, I think because they move so fluidly, a lot of the time
03:28people think they're gloves, and I'm just like, I could there and then just take them off and show
03:32them, but I think that's just a compliment to the design, honestly. But yeah, people are really
03:36interested in them, and it's like a full 180 from the kind of sympathy that I used to get
03:42with old prosthetics and things, trying to mask that difference. People assume that
03:47you want to hide it and you're hit with quite a lot of pity and things like that,
03:51but I'm living my best life and pity isn't something that I'm really after, and to have a
03:58fun and excited reaction from people when I'm out in public is the most rewarding thing.
04:03They make me feel like a superhero, that's what it's all about. Genuinely, they are amazing,
04:08they've done so much for my confidence, they've done so much for me in the way
04:14they work and things, so it's just super exciting. I'm so proud of the company, I'm so proud to
04:19be a part of it at all, and I just can't wait for them to go global pretty much and just more
04:24and more people get their hands on them.