At CES 2026, the world’s largest IT and electronics exhibition, hand rehabilitation startup Merihand (CEO Park Eun-soo) unveiled its next-generation musculoskeletal analysis solution, signaling a full-scale push into the global healthcare market. Having rapidly strengthened its business foundation through medical device certification following CES 2025, Merihand made its strategy clear at CES 2026: expanding technology once limited to disability diagnosis into everyday clinical diagnosis and treatment management.
Speaking at the Merihand booth, CEO Park explained, “The hand, wrist, and forearm involve around 53 delicate muscles, requiring extremely precise rehabilitation. Yet, until now, there has been virtually no tool capable of measuring this quickly and objectively.” He added, “Our core innovation is reducing measurements of joint angles and range of motion—which traditionally took over 30 minutes using conventional goniometer methods—to just one minute.”
Merihand’s musculoskeletal analysis software precisely measures joint movement and range of motion in the hand, automatically converting the data into quantitative scores. The system connects diagnosis, analysis, and treatment management within a single platform. A key strength is its ability to visually record and compare recovery progress over time, providing objective indicators for both clinicians and patients.
At CES 2026, Merihand also highlighted concrete technological achievements. The solution has been certified as a digital medical device, and the company is currently pursuing application under Korea’s national health insurance reimbursement system (EX-773). With a reimbursement level of approximately KRW 23,500 per patient per month, the system is designed to allow medical institutions to recover their investment within three to four months. Park noted, “Although the device price is around KRW 12 million, we intentionally designed a short ROI cycle to accelerate adoption,” adding that registration as a public procurement healthcare product is planned following patent approval.
Merihand also clarified its overseas strategy at the exhibition. While U.S. FDA certification is still in progress, the company has identified sports rehabilitation and private insurance–based healthcare markets as its initial targets prior to full medical device export. Demand is particularly strong among U.S. sports clinics and rehabilitation centers managing professional athletes and specialized artists, where objective monitoring of recovery status is essential. On-site discussions included potential collaborations with clinics specializing in basketball player rehabilitation.
Merihand also unveiled its roadmap for technological advancement. Starting with the hand, the company is expanding R&D toward full-body musculoskeletal analysis. Using depth cameras, hand movements are reconstructed as 3D point clouds, with physical engines applied to visualize muscle and tissue conditions. This approach is expected to evolve into a solution capable of detecting even subtle changes in severe neurological and muscular conditions, such as Parkinson’s disease. Service-based upgrades are also planned to guide treatment placement based on analysis results.
CEO Park stated, “In Korea, we are first building a stable market based on medical device certification and health insurance reimbursement,” adding, “At CES 2026, we are focusing on demonstrating how Merihand’s technology can be applied to globally scalable areas such as sports rehabilitation and telemedicine.” He emphasized, “Our goal is to move beyond hand rehabilitation as a single category and grow into a platform that standardizes musculoskeletal data, connecting diagnosis, treatment, and monitoring through objective metrics.”