{"id":811899,"date":"2026-07-19T09:43:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-19T09:43:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/811899\/"},"modified":"2026-07-19T09:43:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-19T09:43:11","slug":"ottawa-company-develops-robotic-arm-to-lend-a-hand-to-people-with-disabilities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/811899\/","title":{"rendered":"Ottawa company develops robotic arm to lend a hand to people with disabilities"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Text<\/p>\n

Listen to this article<\/p>\n

Estimated 4 minutes<\/p>\n

The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology. Mispronunciations can occur. We are working with our partners to continually review and improve the results.<\/p>\n

When Hollis Pierce took one of his first selfies, he was surrounded by the engineering team that made it possible.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m 38 years old and I\u2019ve never taken my own selfie,\u201d Pierce said.<\/p>\n

Pierce uses a powered wheelchair and advocates for people with physical disabilities.\u00a0He is also the head of accessibility and partnerships at Ottawa-based Sielo Robotics.<\/p>\n

Part of his job involves product testing for the robotics company. Pierce is able to direct Arlo, the company’s assistive robotic arm, using a space mouse, a device that can manipulate 3D environments in six directions.<\/p>\n

\u201cI sort of put it in my head that I wanted to pick up my phone and take a selfie and that was going to be my goal for the day,” Pierce said. “It took me about an hour to do at first.\u201d\u00a0 <\/p>\n

There’s a learning curve, but Pierce said the latest fourth-generation model is almost like playing a video game. \u00a0<\/p>\n

Pierce says he hasn\u2019t been shy about telling his teammates \u201cwhat is absolutely fabulous about [Arlo] and what is absolutely horrible.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"AHollis Pierce, head of accessibility and partnerships with Sielo Robotics, poses with the fourth model of assistive robotic arm, Arlo. (Matthew Kupfer\/CBC)<\/p>\n

The company, which was founded at the University of Ottawa, prides itself on taking inspiration from users with lived experience.<\/p>\n

Their work is set to speed up this summer after raising a million dollars in seed funding this May.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe didn\u2019t have any [venture capital] or organizations funding what we were doing. It was all people… hearing what we\u2019re doing,\u201d said Laila Burns, the company’s chief revenue officer.<\/p>\n

Sielo Robotics is still in a lab at the University of Ottawa. It has partnered with The 8-80 Collaborative, a partnership between the CHEO Research Institute and Bruy\u00e8re Health.<\/p>\n

Before Arlo can make it into homes and communities, they’ll need more testers like Pierce.<\/p>\n

“The arm would be a huge problem solver from someone like me, to help me solve important needs like wiping my nose or having a drink of water and not making it a complex need, in that I need to call a nurse, wait 15 minutes,” Pierce said. <\/p>\n

Rafa\u00ebl H\u00e9bert, Seilo\u2019s chief technology officer and a recent engineering graduate, said seeing the progress users have made gives him hope.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s able to take a selfie and grab items to put on his tray and even interact with his own body,\u201d H\u00e9bert said of Pierce’s progress with the robotic arm.<\/p>\n

\"ARafa\u00ebl H\u00e9bert, chief technology officer of Sielo Robotics, works on a part of their robotic arm. (Matthew Kupfer\/CBC)<\/p>\n

Duplicating complex human actions in unplanned environments is a major challenge in robotics. On top that, H\u00e9bert said, Sielo is collecting feedback from users who\u2019ve already adapted technology to their needs.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone controls their wheelchair in a slightly different way. People use eye gaze, sip and puff,\u00a0 joysticks \u2026 switches in their headrests, their legs,\u201d H\u00e9bert said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can translate that to being able to use our product as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Masoud Karimi, Sielo’s robotics control engineer and a post-doctoral student,\u00a0is working to develop an AI-enabled system for the arm that allows it to effectively record routine tasks.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur goal is to use this technology to do more complex tasks that [are] really hard for people with disability to do [on] their own using a space mouse,\u201d Karimi said.<\/p>\n

\"AA version of Arlo that’s being programmed to do routine tasks using artificial intelligence. (Matthew Kupfer\/CBC)<\/p>\n

The company’s goal has always been to create a device that’s dramatically more affordable than anything else on the market and is covered by insurance, said Burns, the chief revenue officer.<\/p>\n

The seed funding will allow the company to speed up development after years of raising money through student entrepreneur pitch competitions and research funding, she said.<\/p>\n

Burns, who put her studies on hold to focus on the company, predicted Sielo will have their robotic arms in people’s homes by the end of the year, “at least for beta testing.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the lab, Pierce said his selfie-taking skills are improving. He\u2019s most excited about the potential Arlo could unlock for the next generation.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“Having Arlo available to people with disabilities at a young age will be fantastic,” he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Listen to this article Estimated 4 minutes The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":811900,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194295],"tags":[49,48,20739],"class_list":["post-811899","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ottawa","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-ottawa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/811899","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=811899"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/811899\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/811900"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=811899"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=811899"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=811899"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}