Design Fabrication and Control of a Multi Fingered Prosthetic Hand

When an arm or other extremity is amputated or lost, a prosthetic device, or prosthesis, can play an important role in rehabilitation. For many people, an artificial limb can improve mobility and the ability to manage daily activities, as well as provide the means to stay independent. The main focus

Project Title

Design Fabrication and Control of a Multi Fingered Prosthetic Hand

Project Area of Specialization

Mechanical Engineering

Project Summary

When an arm or other extremity is amputated or lost, a prosthetic device, or prosthesis, can play an important role in rehabilitation. For many people, an artificial limb can improve mobility and the ability to manage daily activities, as well as provide the means to stay independent. The main focus is to target those people who cannot afford prosthesis. Our hand will have the abduction and adduction phenomenon (Abduction and adduction are terms that refer to certain body motions or movements. Abduction is the opposite of adduction. With abduction, limbs ‘arms, legs or fingers’ are moved away from your body's midline. Adduction, however, refers to moving your limbs closer to the midline) and flexion and extension of hand based entirely on mechanical design rather than depending upon expensive drives. The initial stage of our project mainly focused on Homo Joint as this joint has a major role in Abduction Adduction phenomenon. Then the means to drive fingers independently and having used minimum power depends entirely on expensive drives but we are focusing on a mechanical lock while designing the final 3D model to make our prosthetic hand the cheaper one. Other than these two concepts, the cosmetic look of hand is kept in view to help motivate amputated people to come and use prosthesis.

Project Objectives

• The problem of disengaging the motors when the fingers are closed has been the greatest challenge faced during the design of prosthetic hand. Our first objective is to disengage the motors upon closeness of fingers, by not using expensive drives but by introducing a lock in mechanical design. The concept of introducing a mechanical lock will greatly reduce the cost of prosthetic hand, and will allow us to reduce battery usage as well.
• Abduction & Adduction is the phenomena used by us daily in our life not much but still it’s the natural built-in capability, same capabilities should be introduced in a prosthetic hand to have the people motivated to use prosthesis. This concept has not been used in any of the physically existing prosthetic hands we have studied so far therefore this will be the first ever prosthetic hand to have this phenomenon so far known to our knowledge. 

Project Implementation Method

Our prosthetic hand will already have an advantage our other brands due to its affordability. First of all, we will start with kids to test our prosthetic hand and will notice and take out any flaws that will make them uncomfortable by using the prosthetic hand. Then we will target developing countries as amputees in these countries are much to suffer and cannot afford a prosthetic hand. We already have pitched our idea in Imagine Cup 2022 powered by Microsoft during our first online presentation and judges loved our idea. We hope to achieve our goal in the competition and to get enough funding to promote our prosthetic hand.

Benefits of the Project

• Mechanical lock will help achieve less battery usage and will disengage the motors when required stopping them from heating up.
• Abduction and Adduction phenomenon in future will led the efficient use of prosthetic hands and typing will also become possible one day by introducing this concept physically.
• The cost of a modern prosthetic hand is approximately $15,000–$50,000. A price that can be affordable for average arm amputees in developed countries is, however, not affordable for the average arm amputees in the developing countries. The high price of myoelectric hands makes it cumbersome for amputees all over the world. In addition, the hand functionality and features are limited among the cheaper priced devices. For instance, many of these devices have only one feature, which is to open and close in a single grip. Moreover, upper limb prosthetics had great advances in terms of functionality, especially for the high-end products. For example, products like BeBionic and I-Limb hands on the market operate by using independently actuated fingers and have many options available when it comes to grips. Unfortunately, the high costs linked with such devices prevent most amputees from purchasing it. Thus, when a search is made in the market for these products, scant numbers are available, and they are relatively expensive to purchase. Our motive is to develop a prosthetic hand with the same features and functionality as the most expensive ones at a lower cost.

Technical Details of Final Deliverable

• Initial Designs
• Final CAD Model
• Progress Report
• Five fingered prosthetic hand with Abduction and Adduction phenomenon
• Smart learning using RGB Camera, will help the user to handle daily tasks easily.

Final Deliverable of the Project

Hardware System

Core Industry

Medical

Other Industries

Manufacturing

Core Technology

Robotics

Other Technologies

3D/4D Printing

Sustainable Development Goals

Good Health and Well-Being for People

Required Resources

If you need this project, please contact me on contact@adikhanofficial.com