Our Story
Dennis Bañez, my father, and namesake of our company, contracted polio from the age of one, resulting in the deterioration of muscle in his left leg. Despite this, he continued to persevere and pursue his dreams; becoming a powerlifting champion, starting his own gym, and raising a loving family. His resilience against great adversity inspired me to give back to a person who has sacrificed so much, yet loved unconditionally.
Although our platform can be used in a range of applications, our company was started with the end goal to help those like my father, regain freedom, confidence, and connection in their lives. Inspired by his resilience, and enabled by technology, everyday we stride to reach to those who need it most, and prove that those living with disability, do not have to be a prisoner of circumstance.
- Anvil Serg Banez, Founder & CEO
Meet the Team
Anvil Serg Banez
Co-Founder & CEO
Anvil is a Mechanical Engineer with an Engineering Officer background with the Royal New Zealand Air Force. Seeing the struggle his Dad had experienced suffering from Poliomyelitis, he started developing exoskeleton technology in his last year of university to help him walk. He founded Dennisson Technologies with the long-term vision of its technology giving freedom, confidence, & connection back to those who need it most; his father, and the people his father represents.
Kimberly Banez
Co-Founder & Operational Support Officer
Kimberly has a Chemical, Process and Materials Engineering background focused in R&D with Analytical Laboratory Testing experience. Kimberly developed the first proof-of-concept prototype, pioneering the foundation of Dennisson’s core actuation platform; AURAFLEX and spearheaded our deep-tech R&D, grew the team and managed Prototype Projects.
Michael Blackhurst
Consulting COO
Michael’s career took off from Intern to General Manager, in a high risk, high growth, international corporation. A tenure comprising twenty three amazing and valuable years. Hands on learning and leading: initially engineering then multidisciplinary teams. It was a model of running a startup in a large organisation. Michael’s wealth of experience in a career involved in taking multiple products to market - including opening a diversified channel is a huge asset for the growth and success of Dennisson.
Dr. Thomas Kerr-Phillips
Advanced Materials Scientist
Dr. Thomas has a PhD in Chemistry and a strong background in R&D, spending over 5 years of post-doc research in smart materials science for commercial applications. During this time he has also worked alongside a couple of startups developing and optimizing smart material actuators. His skills have been beneficial to the optimization of Dennisson’s artificial muscle tech, making them faster, stronger, and slimmer than ever before.
Scott Wilson
Mechatronics Engineer
Scott completed a Masters’ in Mechatronics Engineering with a passion for creating positive change through advanced wearable technologies. As a passion project, he develops prostheses with integrated haptics to allow amputees to “feel” with their prostheses using mechatronics principles. With several years of experience as a CTO in a previous startup, he brings a wealth of practical experience in both business and engineering. Scott develops the “brains” of our technology, combining programmability with our muscles human-like finesse.
Jonathan Yuan
Junior Mechanical Engineer
Jonathan's background is in Mechanical Engineering and Process Manufacturing. After completing a Mechanical Engineering degree with Honours at the University of Canterbury, Jonathan honed his skills in a deep tech startup hardware production line. Jonathan managed the production process of sensor technologies from planning, testing, quality control to product development and maintenance, bringing valuable insight on scaling and manufacturing at Dennisson.
We’d love to hear from you!
Whether your interested in using our technology, collaborating, or want to join the team, We want to hear from you!