Terry Knight’s military career began when he was still a high schooler when, in 1985, he joined the Navy Reserve as an aircrewman on a C–9 aircraft. He served four years before transitioning to the Army as a combat engineer. After 9/11, Knight went back into service and completed the Army’s practical nurse course before deploying to Iraq with a Forward Surgical Team to provide stabilization and ICU care to soldiers. Knight’s last duty station was at Fort Lewis in Washington state, where he worked to train deploying service members in rendering life-saving measures. After his retirement from active duty, Knight began working for the Department of Veterans Affairs as a practical nurse.
Knight was diagnosed with ALS, colloquially known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, in September 2013. Given his nursing background, he sought treatment right away when he noticed symptoms manifesting in his right hand. Not long thereafter, Knight would discover Dallas-based medical technology company Bioservo and its Carbonhand while reading a Paralyzed Veterans of America newsletter. Intrigued, he forwarded the information to his ALS care team.
“About a month later, my occupational therapist at the VA reached out and set up a trial appointment with some folks from Bioservo,” Knight said to me in a recent interview over email. “During the fitting, we tested it right there in the office using a pickleball paddle. Before, I had tried playing pickleball with veterans by taping a paddle to my hand, but it flew off mid-swing. With Carbonhand, I could grip and swing the paddle securely right away.”
On its website, Bioservo describes itself as “[empowering] people with impaired hand function to live more independent lives through innovative and life-changing solutions that improve quality of life and enable a new standard of care.” Of the Carbonhand, the company says it “[makes] a life-changing difference for people with grip deficiencies from disorders such as, but not limited to, spinal cord injury, ALS, MS, stroke, and orthopedic injuries such as fractures, nerve damage, brachial plexus injury, or rheumatic diseases” while adding the device has been used by hundreds of people to “regain independence and perform daily activities that would have been impossible” without it.
In a concurrent interview to Knight’s, Bioservo’s Fredrik Öström, who serves as the company’s vice president of operations and veterans affairs, reiterated the company’s stated purpose by explaining it exists to “[help] U.S. veterans with impaired hand function regain independence in their daily lives.” The work on Carbonhand, which he said includes the VA, healthcare providers, rehabilitation specialists, and more, has been ongoing since early 2024. The device is made by Bioservo’s Sweden-based parent company, Bioservo AB, with the primary goal of “[pioneering] soft robotic technology that enhances grip strength while letting users stay fully in control of their natural movements.”
“Today, our focus is on bringing this proven technology to U.S. Veterans living with reduced hand strength,” Öström said. “Due to conditions such as spinal cord injury, stroke, ALS, multiple sclerosis, orthopedic injuries, and other neuromuscular disorders. We provide clinical support, training, fitting services, and ongoing follow-up to ensure veterans and other patients receive the greatest possible benefit from Carbonhand."
When asked about Carbonhand’s development and the impetus for it, Öström told me it was designed to address “a very common challenge” for vets: a loss of dexterity often correlates with a loss on independence. Ostensibly mundane tasks such as opening a door or carrying a bag of groceries is onerous if not downright impossible. With Carbonhand, Öström said, they can reclaim their independence and self-esteem by remaining “active participants” in everyday life. The device, he added, utilizes sensors embedded in the finger areas to determine when a person begins to grip an object. Advanced software then activates small motors which provide additional strength when the user needs it, with Öström saying the user remains “fully in control” during the entire experience.
“The result is greater independence, less fatigue, and improved confidence in daily activities,” Öström said.
For Knight, he’s a big fan of the Carbonhand and what it enables him to do.
"I love the device! It has given me back a significant degree of freedom, independence, and dignity in carrying out daily tasks without always needing to ask for help,” he said. “I even recommended it to my friend, who now uses the Carbonhand too. I share my story because I want as many people to know about the Carbonhand, because it can truly improve their lives, like it has mine.”
Knight expounded further, telling me ALS affected his dominant hand (as a righty) and left him unable to use his thumb and forefinger, along with “little use” of the remaining three. This ultimately made it difficult for Knight to pick up things. Enter Carbonhand, however, and the device has enabled him to perform tasks with ease which used to cause “extreme frustration” before; it has made doing daily tasks more accessible and increased mobility. Knight now can pick up a cup from his car’s cup holder or carry a sheet of plywood with agency without any assistance from anyone.
"Before Carbonhand, I had to wedge a pen between my fingers and move my entire arm to write, which made my writing hard to read,” he said. “With the glove, I can lock the pen into a natural writing position and write again using only my wrist.”
He added: “I love working with my hands, and one of my hobbies is working with leather in my shop. The Carbonhand lets me hold tools securely without fear of dropping them—whether I’m using a screwdriver, holding a wrench or ratchet while working on a car, operating a hammer while stamping leather in my shop, or holding a fishing rod.”
According to Öström, feedback on Carbonhand, including from the VA, has been “overwhelmingly encouraging.” Many vets, he told me, have expressed gratitude for the device’s ability to not only increase grip and tactility, but independence as well. They want to do everyday things most people take for granted. Similarly, clinicians have noted an appreciation for how Carbonhand is designed for real-world use, not just in therapeutic settings. The device, Öström said, “provides immediate functional support while fitting naturally into the user’s everyday routine.”
If there’s one downside to the Carbonhand, Knight lamented “it can be difficult to button a shirt because you are operating with a glove on.” Nonetheless, he praised the device for having made “a wonderful difference in my life.”
Looking towards the future, Öström said Bioservo’s long-term goal is to help every veteran who could benefit from Carbonhand gain access to the device. And that goal isn’t limited to military veterans either; indeed, he said the company hopes to “make Carbonhand available to people with impaired hand function around the world.”
“Whether someone has lost hand strength due to injury, disease, or aging, we believe they should have access to technology that helps them remain independent, engaged, and confident in everyday life,” Öström said.
As for Knight, he aspires to use Carbonhand to work with horses again. He trained and showed horses prior to his ALS diagnosis, but gave up that part of his life because, for instance, he had trouble shoeing the horse properly.
“My primary goal now is to own a horse again and successfully put a set of shoes on it using Carbonhand,” Knight said. “I am confident the glove will provide just enough hand function and grip strength back to make that achievable.”
