DESIGN AND FABRICATION OF A NOVEL ARTIFICIAL HAND BASED ON A “BIOMECHATRONIC”

Abstract

The Touch Hand II is a desktop 3D-printed prosthetic hand that was created to advance the initial design iteration and provide transradial amputees with a more affordable prosthetic hand choice than currently available commercial solutions. This research has enhanced the powered grip strength, closing/opening times, mass, power usage, aesthetics, structural integrity, and cost. Five other inexpensive hands and two commercial hands are compared to the new design. This comparison reveals seven aspects of the new design that are equivalent to or superior to those of the commercial counterparts. Only four of the other inexpensive hands' qualities can be said to be the same. In addition to describing how the bespoke circuit board fits in the palm and giving a description of the programmed control system, this paper focuses on the mechanical design of the key hand components and discusses potential future extensions to include amputee feedback and command input.