Samantha Joanne Payne

MBE Mbe may refer to: * Mbé, a town in the Republic of the Congo * Mbe Mountains Community Forest, in Nigeria * Mbe language, a language of Nigeria * Mbe' language, language of Cameroon * ''mbe'', ISO 639 code for the extinct Molala language Molal ...

is the co-founder of

Open Bionics Open Bionics is a UK-based company that develops low-cost, 3D printed bionic arms for amputees with below elbow amputations. Their bionic arms are fully functional, with lights, bio feedback vibrations, and different functions that allow the us ...

, a bionics company developing affordable prosthetics for children. Payne has won a number of international awards for her work including the MIT Technology Review 'Innovators under 35' in 2018,

James Dyson Sir James Dyson (born 2 May 1947) is a British inventor, industrial designer, farmer, and billionaire entrepreneur who founded Dyson Ltd. He is best known as the inventor of the dual cyclone bagless vacuum cleaner, which works on the princip ...

gong for innovative engineering and Wired Innovation Fellow in 2016. In the

Queen's Birthday Honours list The Birthday Honours, in some Commonwealth realms, mark the reigning British monarch's official birthday by granting various individuals appointment into national or dynastic orders or the award of decorations and medals. The honours are present ...

2020, Payne was awarded an

, for her work making bionic technology more accessible.

Early life and education

Born and raised in

Knowle West Knowle West is a neighbourhood situated on a low plateau in the south of Bristol, England, about 2 miles (3 km) from the centre of the city. Historically in Somerset, most of the area is coterminous with the Filwood ward of Bristol City C ...

, Payne is a graduate of

Whitworth University Whitworth University is a private, Christian university affiliated with the Presbyterian Church (USA) and located in Spokane, Washington. Founded in 1890, Whitworth enrolls nearly 3,000 students and offers more than 100 graduate and undergraduate ...

and has a Bachelor of Arts/Science.

Career

She worked as a journalist, specialising in technology before becoming a co-founder of Open Bionics. In 2013, whilst working as a journalist, Payne interviewed Joel Gibbard, who was a robotics graduate at the time. Gibbard and Payne later became business partners and co-founders of Open Bionics. Payne and Gibbard founded

in 2014. The start-up was initially based at the Technology Business Incubator at

Bristol Robotics Laboratory The Bristol Robotics Laboratory (BRL), established in 2004, is the largest academic centre for multi-disciplinary robotics research in the UK. It is the result of a collaboration between the University of Bristol , mottoeng ...

. The aim of the company was to develop "affordable, assistive devices that enhance the human body." Open Bionics has partnered with ''

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

'' to make prosthetics based on ''Disney'' characters for children. Her work at Open Bionics has been featured in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' and ''

Daily Mirror The ''Daily Mirror'' is a British national daily tabloid. Founded in 1903, it is owned by parent company Reach plc. From 1985 to 1987, and from 1997 to 2002, the title on its masthead was simply ''The Mirror''. It had an average daily print ...

''.

Innovation

Open Bionics uses 3D scanning to take the initial prosthetic fitting and 3D printing to improve the prosthetic design. These innovations significantly reduce the build-time and the material costs for a personalised hand, making prosthetics more affordable for amputees. Payne estimates that, if bought from private providers, bionic hands with multi-grip functionality cost up to £60,000, compared to £5,000 from Open Bionics.

Awards and recognition

In 2015, Payne was shortlisted for Women in Business 'Young Entrepreneur of The Year' award. In 2018, Payne featured on the ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also re ...

'' 30 Under 30 list in the Sciences and Healthcare category.

References

British women engineers Members of the Order of the British Empire Year of birth missing (living people) Living people British women in business Bionics Prosthetics Whitworth University alumni {{UK-engineer-stub Women bioengineers People from Bristol