Aging at homeWheelchair-mounted robot arm

Assistive robot arms

Name: Assistive robot arms
Brand: Kinova, Assistive Innovations

by Kinova, Assistive Innovations

An assistive robot arm fixes to a power wheelchair and works like a human arm and hand. People who have lost most use of their arms use it to eat, drink, groom and open doors. Disability Rights California, 1 Mar 2025

Stage 4 of 5

Paying customers

Which rule placed it

Evidence: Company-reported only
Human help: None reported
Last milestone: 11 Dec 2024

01Can I get it?

Yes, in places

Where it works today: Sold through medical equipment suppliers. In California, Medi-Cal (the state health plan for low-income people) has covered these arms since September 2024; some other insurers still refuse to pay. Disability Rights California, 1 Mar 2025
Published price: No published price in our sources.
Human help: Our sources report it working without human help.

02Track record

What has actually happened

Every milestone is dated and links to the page it comes from. Lines marked company-reported rest on the maker's own word.

11 Dec 2024
Update
US insurer Molina Healthcare names Kinova's Jaco and Assistive Innovations' iARM as the arms on the market today.
Molina Healthcare clinical policy, reviewed 11 Dec 2024
11 Dec 2024
Setback
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.
Molina Healthcare clinical policy, reviewed 11 Dec 2024
11 Dec 2024
Update
The FDA puts these arms in its lowest-risk class (Class I), so they do not need FDA clearance before sale.
Molina Healthcare clinical policy, reviewed 11 Dec 2024
1 Sept 2024
Update
California's Medi-Cal health plan began covering assistive robot arms as a benefit.
Disability Rights California, 1 Mar 2025
22 June 2015
Paying customers · sets the stage
More than 150 people in the Netherlands were feeding themselves with a Jaco arm.
TechCrunch, 22 Jun 2015Company-reported
26 Feb 2013
Paying customers · sets the stage
Kinova had sold more than 150 Jaco arms by early 2013.
IEEE Spectrum, 26 Feb 2013Company-reported
1 Dec 2011
Update
Dutch researchers published a redesign of the ARM wheelchair arm, which became a new model called iARM.
University of Twente research record, 2011
2010
On sale · sets the stage
Kinova, a company from Montreal, brought its Jaco arm to the rehabilitation market in 2010.
IEEE Spectrum, 26 Feb 2013Company-reported

03Safety and incidents

What has gone wrong

19 Aug 2024
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. FDA recall notice, Oct 2024
25 Oct 2024
The FDA rated the Jaco fire-risk correction as the most serious type of recall. FDA recall notice, Oct 2024

In clinical trials

1 registered trial

From ClinicalTrials.gov, read every day.

FinishedStudy of Home Use of the Jaco Robotic Manipulation Device by Individuals With TetraplegiaAssociation APPROCHE · Updated 2 July 2026

FDA record

1 FDA record

Clearances and recalls from the FDA's own database.

RecallKINOVA Jaco assistive robot. Model Numbers: PJ 0000 0001, PJ 0000 0012, PJ 0090 0001, PJ 0090 0006, KR MJ2 0001. Jaco replaces the function of the upper limb on one side of the body.22 Aug 2024

How we placed it

The rule, not an opinion

Stages are worked out by published rules from the dated milestones above. We never rate robots, and no maker can pay to change a stage.

5
Regulator-cleared or mass market
A regulator has cleared it where approval applies: FDA clearance or approval for a medical robot, a permit to run with no one aboard for a self-driving vehicle, or an FAA approval for routine drone flights. Or: Widely sold: sales in the hundreds of thousands, or a product category you can buy in ordinary shops.
4
Paying customersThis robot
Delivered to customers who pay for it, beyond a trial, or a paid service the public can use.
Placed by: More than 150 people in the Netherlands were feeding themselves with a Jaco arm (22 June 2015); Kinova had sold more than 150 Jaco arms by early 2013 (26 Feb 2013).
3
Pilot
Working with a named customer in a real setting, as a trial.
2
Pre-orders
Orders, reservations or deposits taken, with nothing delivered yet.
1
Demo only
Shown in videos, staged events or a factory, with no units working for customers.

What we couldn't confirm. Makers are from Canada (Kinova) and the Netherlands (Assistive Innovations), so country is left blank. No current price or total units sold since 2013 could be confirmed. The safety line on 'no injuries' comes from the FDA page but is not part of the quoted passage. Obi (feeding robot) has its own card.

Sources

Cite this page

Robotics Verdict. “Assistive robot arms (Kinova, Assistive Innovations): how far has it got?” roboticsverdict.com/robots/assistive-robot-arms. Checked 19 October 2026.