Dephy

Dephy is a wearable robotics company based in Maynard, Massachusetts, founded in 2016 out of research at the MIT Media Lab on how robotic prosthetic technology could help people without limb loss. Its founders — CEO Luke Mooney and Hugh Herr — set out to take exoskeletons out of laboratories and treadmills and into cities, trails and everyday life.

The company builds actuators, electronics and software around the ankle, which it calls the unsung hero of mobility, and its Sidekick system is a bionic footwear platform that adds power to each step for people with tired or heavy legs. Dephy is the robotics partner behind Nike’s Project Amplify motorised shoe system, works with military, rehabilitation and consumer users, and has run beta programmes with more than a thousand wearers.