For many, living with barely functional prosthetics is the product of years of pricey consultations and custom castings. Huzaifa Shafiq, a fifth-year University of Calgary student, is trying to change that.
Throughout his youth, Shafiq would spend his summers playing tennis with his siblings. As he grew older, he realized that playing sports, not to mention day-to-day tasks, are something many people across the globe struggle with.
Enter Dextera.
As a mechanical engineering major with a minor in biomedical engineering, Shafiq is building and designing prosthetic devices designed to make life easier for people with partial finger and hand amputations or dexterity issues, hence the name Dextera.
“We make standardized solutions for eating, writing and doing other daily tasks. For custom prosthetics, we have a solution for playing any racket sport and I’m working on solutions for other sports,” Shafiq told LWC.
Through the company’s early goings, Shafiq has created EatAssist, a device which uses magnets to attach to silverware, and PenAssist, a device that has a clamp allowing for pen or pencil use. Both are adjustable and are available for purchase through the Dextera website.
Shafiq said that UCalgary’s Hunter Hub has been a great source for inspiration, even pre-Dextera.
“When I joined university, I was very intrigued with the Hunter Hub and I was able to interact with them. Their culture is, ‘Hey, if you have an idea, we can help you,’ and I joined multiple programs they had and all of them push to make whatever you’re thinking of into something,” he said.
“Because you’re making it, the drive behind it isn’t that I want to make this into a business so it can make me money, my drive is really to make it bigger so it can impact people and make a difference.”
Having accessibility as a core value, Shafiq aims to keep his designs as affordable as possible, especially compared to big name brands which often take years to create successful custom prosthetics.
“Current standard is a very lengthy process where you go in, they assess you and then they make a negative mold and a positive mold. It takes weeks, even months before they do a first fitting test,” he said.
“What I do is I take a 3d scan of their residual limb, or their partial hand and with that, using AI to process a lot of the scanning and a lot of the computations, I’m able to get to a fitting stage much faster because I eliminate the whole process of casting.”
Dextera on the world stage
Last year, Shafiq worked with four-time Paralympian Zak Madell, who lost his fingers and legs at age 10 due to a septic staph infection, on a device that was snug enough to stay on during racquet sports and had enough leverage to deliver competitive serves.
The creation process featured much trial and error, before the pair eventually found the right fit.
“It was very much getting (Madell’s) feedback. I’d make a design for him and ask him,’How does this fit? Does this make it too tight? Is it too loose? Is it holding on to the racket, right? Is it at the angle that you want to hold the racket at?’ Getting the feedback from the client is really important because only the person using the prosthetic knows how it’s actually performing,” Shafiq said.
Madell sported his Dextera-made TrueSwing device during the Birmingham National Wheelchair Tennis Championship in Vancouver.
“Seeing Zak and his device, the feeling, I can’t describe it. I was really happy that I made something that made a change for somebody as important as that, because Zak grew up playing all sorts of sports, he loves sports and making a device for him to be able to play comfortably is really moving and motivating,” Shafiq said.
Though he’s his most high profile client yet, Shafiq says that Madell’s custom will not be the last Dextera product used in high level competition.
“My goal is Dextera devices to be used during the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic games. Whether it be tennis, badminton or whatever, I want Dextera devices there,” he said.
Aside from the Olympics, Shafiq is hoping to create a team of designers at Dextera while taking on as many customers as possible. Scaling his business, he said, is largely dependent on grant and crowd funding at the current stage.
For now, Dextera products can be found online and soon in-store as well.
“I have a consignment deal at AdaptAbility, in University District. They work with all sorts of adaptive tech, like wheelchairs and walking sticks, so they have a lot of cool stuff. I talked to the owner there, and she’s like, ‘We’d love to put your devices on shelves,’ and we’re just working to put it in their store right now,” Shafiq said.
