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rimora_screenshot
Inspiration
A close friend of mine, who runs a small chicken farm, suffered a devastating accident while using an angle grinder with a wood blade. Due to a moment of negligence, he lost two fingers—his middle finger was left dangling. The real tragedy, however, occurred at the hospital. He wasn’t attended to because a surgeon wasn’t available, and he ultimately lost the finger entirely.
This incident kept me up at night, especially because I also work with similar machines. It highlighted a serious gap in access to emergency surgical care and industrial safety here in Nigeria. I decided to build a solution that addresses three major problems that occured to me then, even with limited resources:
A robotic arm capable of performing surgery autonomously, minimizing dependence on human availability in emergency cases.
A prosthetic robotic arm for amputees, designed to restore full functionality and make them feel whole again.
An industrial-grade robotic arm to take on hazardous workflows, reducing the risk of workplace injuries.
What it does
Rimora is a multi-functional robotic arm system designed for three primary use cases:
Medical: Assists or performs emergency surgical operations autonomously when human surgeons are unavailable.
Prosthetics: Serves as an advanced, customizable prosthetic limb for amputees, enabling them to regain control and mobility.
Industrial: Automates dangerous tasks in manufacturing, farming, or other high-risk environments, keeping human workers safe.
How we built it
We combined multiple technologies, including:
3D-printed mechanical components for the arm structure
MG90s metal Servo motors for precise movement
Arduino & Raspberry pi zero for real-time control
Python + OpenCV for vision and gesture tracking
Deep Q-Learning Machine learning models to adapt to user input and environment changes
Custom-built EMG sensors (optional) for detecting muscle signals in amputees(future)
Everything was rapidly prototyped under tight constraints and tested with simulated scenarios for medical and industrial tasks.
Challenges we ran into
Tuning the robotic arm for different use cases was challenging—each application (medical, prosthetic, industrial) had unique requirements.
Lack of access to real hospital-grade surgical datasets for training models.
Sourcing affordable, high-torque servo motors on a budget.
Designing an intuitive control interface that works for both general users and amputees.
Accomplishments that we're proud of We successfully built a functional prototype that can hold objects with precision.
Future Design is for the arm connected to a shoulder to switch between modes (surgery/prosthetic/industrial) with minimal reconfiguration.
Developed a real-time vision-based gesture control system.
Most importantly, we created a system rooted in personal experience that could save lives and restore dignity.
What we learned
Designing for real-world impact requires empathy and listening to real stories.
Building modular systems can expand use cases without reengineering the entire system.
Safety is a non-negotiable factor when designing robotic systems—especially in healthcare or industrial settings.
What's next for Rimora
Integrate haptic feedback to give amputees a sense of touch.
Train the surgical AI with datasets under proper medical partnerships.
Launch pilot programs in small clinics and farms to test the robotic arm in real-world environments.
Build a cloud-based update and monitoring system for remote diagnostics and upgrades.
Explore partnerships with NGOs and health organizations for distribution in underserved communitie
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