Elastomeric passive transmission for autonomous force-velocity adaptation applied to 3D-printed prosthetics

2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (23) ◽  
pp. eaau5543 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin W. O’Brien ◽  
Patricia A. Xu ◽  
David J. Levine ◽  
Cameron A. Aubin ◽  
Ho-Jung Yang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Degrees Of Freedom ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Prosthetic Hand ◽  
Prosthetic Hands ◽  
Polyurethane Composite ◽  
Compact Size ◽  
Variable Transmission ◽  
3D Printed ◽  
Force Velocity ◽  
Projection Stereolithography

The force, speed, dexterity, and compact size required of prosthetic hands present extreme design challenges for engineers. Current prosthetics rely on high-quality motors to achieve adequate precision, force, and speed in a small enough form factor with the trade-off of high cost. We present a simple, compact, and cost-effective continuously variable transmission produced via projection stereolithography. Our transmission, which we call an elastomeric passive transmission (EPT), is a polyurethane composite cylinder that autonomously adjusts its radius based on the tension in a wire spooled around it. We integrated six of these EPTs into a three-dimensionally printed soft prosthetic hand with six active degrees of freedom. Our EPTs provided the prosthetic hand with about three times increase in grip force without compromising flexion speed. This increased performance leads to finger closing speeds of ~0.5 seconds (average radial velocity, ~180 degrees second−1) and maximum fingertip forces of ~32 newtons per finger.

Novel Design of a 3D Printed Anthropomorphic Soft Prosthetic Hand

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Esme Abbot ◽  
Amanda de Oliveira Barros ◽  
James Yang
Keyword(s):  
Degrees Of Freedom ◽  
Fused Deposition Modeling ◽  
Human Hand ◽  
Prosthetic Hand ◽  
Fused Deposition ◽  
Versatile Tool ◽  
3D Printed ◽  
External Covering ◽  
Almost All ◽  
Precision Grasping

Abstract Human hands play a key role in almost all activities of daily living (ADLs) because it is an incredibly versatile tool capable of complex motion. For individuals who have had a complete loss of the hand, the ability to perform ADLs is impaired. Effective prosthetics accurately simulate the movements of a human hand by providing a high number of degrees of freedom, an efficient control system, and an anthropomorphic appearance. In this paper, the design and construction process of a highly anthropomorphic soft robotic prosthetic hand is outlined. The design specifications of the hand are based on feedback from current and former prosthetic users. The hand endoskeleton was 3D printed using fused deposition modeling techniques and was enclosed in a silicone coating modeled, after a real human hand. The hand presents anthropomorphic design in its realistic bone shapes and in its external covering that is like skin in texture and mechanical properties. The hand utilizes the flexibility of silicone instead of antagonistic tendons which would otherwise add complexity and weight to the prosthetic design. The prototype also includes adduction/abduction of the fingers, which is a common omitted movement in other prosthetics. Testing showed that the hand is capable of effective power and precision grasping.

scholarly journals Ten guidelines for the design of non-assembly mechanisms: The case of 3D-printed prosthetic hands

2018 ◽  
Vol 232 (9) ◽  
pp. 962-971 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juan Sebastian Cuellar ◽  
Gerwin Smit ◽  
Amir A Zadpoor ◽  
Paul Breedveld
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
3D Printing ◽  
Fused Deposition Modelling ◽  
Prosthetic Hand ◽  
Prosthetic Devices ◽  
Hand Prosthesis ◽  
Fused Deposition ◽  
Prosthetic Hands ◽  
Design Considerations ◽  
3D Printed

In developing countries, prosthetic workshops are limited, difficult to reach, or even non-existent. Especially, fabrication of active, multi-articulated, and personalized hand prosthetic devices is often seen as a time-consuming and demanding process. An active prosthetic hand made through the fused deposition modelling technology and fully assembled right after the end of the 3D printing process will increase accessibility of prosthetic devices by reducing or bypassing the current manufacturing and post-processing steps. In this study, an approach for producing active hand prosthesis that could be fabricated fully assembled by fused deposition modelling technology is developed. By presenting a successful case of non-assembly 3D printing, this article defines a list of design considerations that should be followed in order to achieve fully functional non-assembly devices. Ten design considerations for additive manufacturing of non-assembly mechanisms have been proposed and a design case has been successfully addressed resulting in a fully functional prosthetic hand. The hand prosthesis can be 3D printed with an inexpensive fused deposition modelling machine and is capable of performing different types of grasping. The activation force required to start a pinch grasp, the energy required for closing, and the overall mass are significantly lower than body-powered commercial prosthetic hands. The results suggest that this non-assembly design may be a good alternative for amputees in developing countries.

scholarly journals Human Hand Anatomy Based Prosthetic Hand

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Larisa Dunai ◽  
Martin Novak ◽  
Carmen García Espert
Keyword(s):  
Degrees Of Freedom ◽  
Use Of Force ◽  
Hand Movements ◽  
Human Hand ◽  
Prosthetic Hand ◽  
Object Surface ◽  
Hand Phalanges ◽  
3D Printed ◽  
High Level

The present paper describes the development of a prosthetic hand based on the human hand anatomy. The hand phalanges are printed by using 3D printed with Polylactic Acid material. One of the main contributions is the investigation on the prosthetic hand joins; the proposed design enables to create personalized joins that allow the prosthetic hand a high level of movement by increasing the degrees of freedom of the fingers. Moreover, the driven wire tendons show a progressive grasping movement, being the friction of the tendons with the phalanges very low. Another important point is the use of force sensitive resistors for simulating the hand touch pressure. These are used for the grasping stop simulating touch pressure of the fingers. Surface Electromyogram (EMG) sensors allow the user to control the prosthetic hand grasping start. Their use may provide the prosthetic hand the possibility of classification of the hand movements. The practical results included in the paper prove the importance of the soft joins for the object manipulation and to get adapted to the object surface. Finally, the force sensitive sensors allow the prosthesis to actuate with more naturalness by adding conditions and classifications to the Electromyogram sensor.

scholarly journals Dielectric Resonators Antennas Potential Unleashed by 3D Printing Technology: A Practical Application in the IoT Framework

Electronics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 64
Author(s):  
Francesco Paolo Chietera ◽  
Riccardo Colella ◽  
Luca Catarinucci
Keyword(s):  
3D Printing ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Printed Antennas ◽  
Dielectric Resonator Antennas ◽  
Research Fields ◽  
Compact Size ◽  
Scientific Papers ◽  
3D Printed ◽  
3D Printed Antennas ◽  
Good Agreement

One of the most promising and exciting research fields of the last decade is that of 3D-printed antennas, as proven by the increasing number of related scientific papers. More specifically, the most common and cost-effective 3D printing technologies, which have become more and more widespread in recent years, are particularly suitable for the development of dielectric resonator antennas (DRAs), which are very interesting types of antennas exhibiting good gain, excellent efficiency, and potentially very small size. After a brief survey on how additive manufacturing (AM) can be used in 3D printing of antennas and how much the manufacturing process of DRAs can benefit from those technologies, a specific example, consisting of a wideband antenna operating at 2.4 GHz and 3.8 GHz, was deeply analyzed, realized, and tested. The obtained prototype exhibited compact size (60 × 60 × 16 mm3, considering the whole antenna) and a good agreement between measured and simulated S11, with a fractional bandwidth of 46%. Simulated gain and efficiency were also quite good, with values of 5.45 dBi and 6.38 dBi for the gain and 91% and 90% for the efficiency, respectively, at 2.45 GHz and 3.6 GHz.

scholarly journals The use of underactuation in prosthetic grasping

2011 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-32 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. J. Kyberd ◽  
A. Clawson ◽  
B. Jones
Keyword(s):  
Degrees Of Freedom ◽  
International Workshop ◽  
Degree Of Freedom ◽  
Prosthetic Hand ◽  
Trade Off ◽  
Prosthetic Hands ◽  
Commercial Environment

Abstract. Underactuation as a method of driving prosthetic hands has a long history. The pragmatic requirements of such a device to be light enough to be worn and used regularly have meant that any multi degree of freedom prosthetic hand must have fewer actuators than the usable degrees of freedom. Aesthetics ensures that while the hand needs five fingers, five actuators have considerable mass, and only in recent years has it even been possible to construct a practical anthropomorphic hand with five motors. Thus there is an important trade off as to which fingers are driven, and which joints on which fingers are actuated, and how the forces are distributed to create a functional device. This paper outlines some of the historical solutions created for this problem and includes those designs of recent years that are now beginning to be used in the commercial environment. This paper was presented at the IFToMM/ASME International Workshop on Underactuated Grasping (UG2010), 19 August 2010, Montréal, Canada.

Toward 3D Printed Prosthetic Hands that Can Satisfy Psychosocial Needs: Grasping Force Comparisons Between a Prosthetic Hand and Human Hands

2017 ◽  
pp. 304-313 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ahmad Yaser Alhaddad ◽  
Sami Emad AlKhatib ◽  
Rahib Ahmed Khan ◽  
Salman Mohammad Ismail ◽  
Al-Sendibad Said Shehadeh ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Prosthetic Hand ◽  
Psychosocial Needs ◽  
Prosthetic Hands ◽  
Grasping Force ◽  
3D Printed ◽  
Human Hands

scholarly journals Multifunction control and evaluation of a 3D printed hand prosthesis with the Myo armband by hand amputees

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Cognolato ◽  
M. Atzori ◽  
C. Marchesin ◽  
S. Marangon ◽  
D. Faccio ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Pediatric Population ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
3D Models ◽  
Simple Extension ◽  
Hand Prosthesis ◽  
Prosthetic Hands ◽  
Custom Made ◽  
Myo Armband ◽  
3D Printed

AbstractUpper limb amputations are highly impairing injuries that can substantially limit the quality of life of a person. The most advanced dexterous prosthetic hands have remarkable mechanical features. However, in most cases, the control systems are a simple extension of basic control protocols, making the use of the prosthesis not intuitive and sometimes complex. Furthermore, the cost of dexterous prosthetic hands is often prohibitive, especially for the pediatric population and developing countries. 3D printed hand prostheses can represent an opportunity for the future. Open 3D models are increasingly being released, even for dexterous prostheses that are capable of moving each finger individually and actively rotating the thumb. However, the usage and test of such devices by hand amputees (using electromyography and classification methods) is not well explored. The aim of this article is to investigate the usage of a cost-effective system composed of a 3D printed hand prosthesis and a low-cost myoelectric armband. Two subjects with transradial amputation were asked to wear a custom-made socket supporting the HANDi Hand and the Thalmic Labs Myo armband. Afterwards, the subjects were asked to control and use the prosthetic hand to grasp several objects by attempting to perform a set of different hand gestures. Both the HANDi Hand and the Myo armband performed well during the test, which is encouraging considering that the HANDi Hand was developed as a research platform. The results are promising and show the feasibility of the multifunction control of dexterous 3D printed hand prostheses based on low-cost setups. Factors as the level of the amputation, neuromuscular fatigue and mechanical limitations of the 3D printed hand prosthesis can influence the performance of the setup. Practical aspects such as usability and robustness will need to be addressed for successful application in daily life. A video of the tests can be found at the following link:https://youtu.be/iPSCAbd17Qw

scholarly journals A Graphic User Interface (GUI) to build a cost-effective customizable 3D printed Prosthetic Hand

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Lázaro-Guevara ◽  
R. Gondokaryono ◽  
L. González ◽  
K. Garrido ◽  
N. Sujumnong ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
User Interface ◽  
Medical Staff ◽  
Pediatric Population ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Medical Attention ◽  
Prosthetic Hand ◽  
Prosthetic Devices ◽  
3D Print ◽  
Effective Manner ◽  
3D Printed

AbstractThis project aims to create a tool that allows medical staff to use an intuitive graphical user interface (GUI) based application to generate STL models of a customizable prosthetic hand, that can be 3d printed to fit a specific patient’s hand size. Since the whole process of adjust and adapt the prosthetics devices could consume most of the resources of small medical attention centers. And the necessity to adapt the prosthetic devices is highly relevant when these are intended to be used by the pediatric population. This software creates a customizable parametric 3d model for a trans-radial prosthetic hand and all its necessary components for 3d print and assemble it. The software is intended to be operated by non-trained staff, reducing the costs of remodeling or adapting the original model to fit the necessity of a patient, allowing to produce personalized prosthetic devices in a cost-effective manner with an effortless customization approach. This will allow that medical practitioners with a lack of technical background to get involved in spreading 3D-prosthetics. Also, using open-source parametric 3D-models could lead to existing 3D-prosthetic projects that will adopt this method of customization, allowing the expansion of 3D-printed prosthetics at developing-countries reaching all needing patients. Ultimately, this tool will allow the medical staff to focus on adjusting or replacing the prosthetic devices more often than previously, due to be considered too expensive..

scholarly journals Design of a 3D-printed hand prosthesis featuring articulated bio-inspired fingers

2020 ◽  
pp. 095441192098088
Author(s):  
Juan Sebastian Cuellar ◽  
Dick Plettenburg ◽  
Amir A Zadpoor ◽  
Paul Breedveld ◽  
Gerwin Smit
Keyword(s):  
3D Printing ◽  
Design Principles ◽  
Prosthetic Hand ◽  
Hand Prosthesis ◽  
Fused Deposition ◽  
Pinch Force ◽  
Actuation System ◽  
3D Printed ◽  
Energy Dissipated ◽  
Dual Material

Various upper-limb prostheses have been designed for 3D printing but only a few of them are based on bio-inspired design principles and many anatomical details are not typically incorporated even though 3D printing offers advantages that facilitate the application of such design principles. We therefore aimed to apply a bio-inspired approach to the design and fabrication of articulated fingers for a new type of 3D printed hand prosthesis that is body-powered and complies with basic user requirements. We first studied the biological structure of human fingers and their movement control mechanisms in order to devise the transmission and actuation system. A number of working principles were established and various simplifications were made to fabricate the hand prosthesis using a fused deposition modelling (FDM) 3D printer with dual material extrusion. We then evaluated the mechanical performance of the prosthetic device by measuring its ability to exert pinch forces and the energy dissipated during each operational cycle. We fabricated our prototypes using three polymeric materials including PLA, TPU, and Nylon. The total weight of the prosthesis was 92 g with a total material cost of 12 US dollars. The energy dissipated during each cycle was 0.380 Nm with a pinch force of ≈16 N corresponding to an input force of 100 N. The hand is actuated by a conventional pulling cable used in BP prostheses. It is connected to a shoulder strap at one end and to the coupling of the whiffle tree mechanism at the other end. The whiffle tree mechanism distributes the force to the four tendons, which bend all fingers simultaneously when pulled. The design described in this manuscript demonstrates several bio-inspired design features and is capable of performing different grasping patterns due to the adaptive grasping provided by the articulated fingers. The pinch force obtained is superior to other fully 3D printed body-powered hand prostheses, but still below that of conventional body powered hand prostheses. We present a 3D printed bio-inspired prosthetic hand that is body-powered and includes all of the following characteristics: adaptive grasping, articulated fingers, and minimized post-printing assembly. Additionally, the low cost and low weight make this prosthetic hand a worthy option mainly in locations where state-of-the-art prosthetic workshops are absent.

scholarly journals 3D printed microfluidic lab-on-a-chip device for fiber-based dual beam optical manipulation

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Haoran Wang ◽  
Anton Enders ◽  
John-Alexander Preuss ◽  
Janina Bahnemann ◽  
Alexander Heisterkamp ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Optical Fibers ◽  
Single Cells ◽  
Lab On A Chip ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Optical Manipulation ◽  
Hydrodynamic Focusing ◽  
Trapping Region ◽  
Dual Beam ◽  
3D Printed ◽  
On Chip

Abstract3D printing of microfluidic lab-on-a-chip devices enables rapid prototyping of robust and complex structures. In this work, we designed and fabricated a 3D printed lab-on-a-chip device for fiber-based dual beam optical manipulation. The final 3D printed chip offers three key features, such as (1) an optimized fiber channel design for precise alignment of optical fibers, (2) an optically clear window to visualize the trapping region, and (3) a sample channel which facilitates hydrodynamic focusing of samples. A square zig–zag structure incorporated in the sample channel increases the number of particles at the trapping site and focuses the cells and particles during experiments when operating the chip at low Reynolds number. To evaluate the performance of the device for optical manipulation, we implemented on-chip, fiber-based optical trapping of different-sized microscopic particles and performed trap stiffness measurements. In addition, optical stretching of MCF-7 cells was successfully accomplished for the purpose of studying the effects of a cytochalasin metabolite, pyrichalasin H, on cell elasticity. We observed distinct changes in the deformability of single cells treated with pyrichalasin H compared to untreated cells. These results demonstrate that 3D printed microfluidic lab-on-a-chip devices offer a cost-effective and customizable platform for applications in optical manipulation.

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