About
Brink Bionics Origins
Brink Bionics was founded out of the Engineering Bionics Lab at the University of Waterloo in 2018 as a bionic arm company. In 2019 we shifted our focus to gaming, seeing a possible stagnation in the innovations for conventional gaming controllers, which presents an opportunity to begin exploring how neural interfaces can reshape how we connect with games. The founding team at Brink Bionics has more than 35 years of experience in neurotechnology, from bionics limb engineering, to stroke neurorehabilitation and consumer neural interface technology.
Our Mission
Our mission is to develop neurotechnologies that enhance the human body, creating new channels through which people can expand the boundaries of their minds and bodies. We believe in developing neurotech solutions that are carefully tailored to augmenting a particular ability. Our first vertical is in gaming, where we have accessed the untapped potential of the human nervous system to deliver the next leap in gaming and esports technology.
We see gaming and esports as the proving ground for neurotechnology. The demand that gamers have for reliable, fast, and high performance interfaces creates an environment for rapid innovation, which will fuel rapid innovation the likes of which has not been seen in any other neurotech applications. As our neurotechnology matures in this demanding environment, it will open doors for our innovations to reach industries beyond gaming.
Founder Bios
Erik Lloyd, Co-founder/CEO
Erik Lloyd is a graduate from MASc in System Design Engineering at the University of Waterloo. His research was focused on the development of myoelectric based high dexterity prosthetic control systems using deep learning algorithms. As well, Erik has developed bionic arm robotic hardware for prosthetic research applications. His long term focus is to develop robotic and neural interface technologies that can be used to enhance human performance for able bodied users that want to exceed the limits of the human body.
Dr. Ning Jiang, Co-founder/CSO
Dr. Ning Jiang is one of the leading researchers in the development of advanced human-machine interfaces for various applications. His surface electromyogram processing and myoelectric control techniques have launched a paradigm shift in bionic arm control technology, and his non-invasive brain-computer interface technologies have demonstrated best-in-world improvement of cortical plasticity in acute stroke patients. He is currently leading research in advanced AI algorithms that can detect human motion intentions, covert or overt, from physiological signals of human, and use these detections to establish new ways of human-machine interactions.
Dr. Jiayuan He, Co-founder/CTO
Dr. He is an Assistant Professor in the Engineering Bionics Lab at the University of Waterloo, and the CTO of Brink Bionics. His research includes more than 15 publications in myoelectric control systems for bionic arm technologies, and in ECG (heart monitor) technologies for analysis and detection of stress and other information that manifests in autonomic bio-signals. His work also expands into using bio-signals for biometric identification systems in security applications, and the super low-latency EMG algorithms that power Brink Bionics Impulse technology.
We are working with pro-gamers and researchers to make our vision real
Our Partners
Vita ramen Revival is an esports team in the Ontario Esports League. They have teams for Overwatch, League of Legends and Call of Duty. We are working with them to explore how our Impulse neurocontroller can be used by professional gamers to improve performance both in training and during real-time game play. Learn more about them here:
Engineering Bionics Lab at the University of Waterloo is a world-leading research lab in neurotechnology and neural rehabilitatuion. Brink Bionics was born from research in this cutting-edge lab, and we are continuing to work closely with the lab to discover new ways we can apply neurotech to augmenting and optimizing human performance in esports and beyond.
The Wilfred Laurier University Department of Athletics has partnered with Brink Bionics to investigate the social sciences applications of neurotechnology, and investiaget at a collegiate level how integrating neurotech into esports can change the playing field for gaming and esports.
Brink Bionics is a portfolio company at the Velocity Incubator in Waterloo. Since winning the Velocity Fund Finals Pitch competition in 2018, Velocity has supported Brink Bionics with mentorship, coaching, and workspace resources to help our team to reach our goals.
Meet our investors
RiSC Capital is a deeptech venture capital firm based out of Toronto, Canada. They are focused on finding creative, game-changing tech that can benefit Canada.
Hello Ventures Inc is a Venture Capital firm located in Canada. Hello Ventures was founded by Scott Lake, Shopify co-founder and Source Metrics founder.
Impulse Neuro-Controller is a product that can challenge established products from larger companies. Price accessibility, business model, and Value network. Click the image for the full article
Check out Impulse feature on Cnets Coolest Gadgets of CES 2021 list. Click the image for the full article
This is the first time that the human nervous system has been leveraged to optimize performance for gaming and e-sports in real time,” creator Erik Lloyd told Digital Trends. “It’s the first step toward futures portrayed in games like Deus Ex or Cyberpunk, where you can walk into a store and purchase technologies that can optimize your natural abilities through neural interfaces. Click the image for the full article
PC gaming is just one big input/output circle: You see something, you react, your PC turns that into in-game action, you see something, you react… you get it. So much of PC gaming hardware is built to better accommodate that system and minimize latency between your brain and your game. But what if you could bypass some of that process entirely? Click the image for the full article
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