Aging at home
US insurer Molina Healthcare names Kinova's Jaco and Assistive Innovations' iARM as the arms on the market today.
A dated step forward on the record
What the source says
“WMRA devices that are currently available include, but may not be limited to, the Kinova JACO Robotic Arm (Kinova Inc. 2024) and the Assistive Innovations iARM (Assistive Innovations 2019).”
What it means
Assistive robot arms, from Kinova, Assistive Innovations, is at stage 4 of 5 on our ladder: paying customers. Its stage is set by other milestones on its record; this one adds to the history.
Human help: Our sources report it working without human help.
More on Assistive robot arms
- Molina's policy treats these arms as unproven and does not count them as medically necessary, saying there is not enough research on long-term safety and benefit.
- The FDA puts these arms in its lowest-risk class (Class I), so they do not need FDA clearance before sale.
- The FDA rated the Jaco fire-risk correction as the most serious type of recall.
- California's Medi-Cal health plan began covering assistive robot arms as a benefit.
- Kinova sent all Jaco customers an urgent correction notice because a damaged outer coating on the arm could raise the risk of fire if it touches a wheelchair with an electrical fault. All lots were affected; no injuries or deaths were reported.
- More than 150 people in the Netherlands were feeding themselves with a Jaco arm.