Analysis, Development and Control of an Open-source, Adaptive, Humanlike Prosthetic Hand
Author | : Helen Miriam Evans |
Publisher | : |
Total Pages | : 130 |
Release | : 2019 |
ISBN-10 | : OCLC:1111582801 |
ISBN-13 | : |
Rating | : 4/5 (01 Downloads) |
Book excerpt: This thesis presents an underactuated, anthropomorphic robot hand that can be used as a myoelectric prosthesis. The hand is both affordable and of low complexity when compared to existing commercial models. The prosthesis consists of four tendon-driven fingers and a thumb that are manufactured using the concept of hybrid deposition manufacturing. A set of antagonistic, elastic bands was used to implement the passive extension of the fingers offering increased performance and durability when compared with torsional springs that are typically used in pin joint based designs. A selectively lockable whiffletree differential mechanism was implemented in order to facilitate the execution of independent finger motions and of various everyday life grasps using a single actuator. The efficiency and the performance of the proposed prosthetic hand were experimentally validated. The experiments performed focused on the repeatability of finger motions, the force exertion characteristics of the hand and its grasping and dexterous manipulation capabilities1. The total cost of the proposed prosthetic hand is 400 USD and the total weight is 530 g.