Design of a Low-Cost and Humanoid Myoelectric Prosthetic Hand Driven by a Single Actuator to Realize Basic Hand Functions

For people with upper limb amputation, a dexterous prosthesis is surely the alternative solution to restore their lost limb functions. Meanwhile, the currently available myoelectric prosthetic hands are usually relatively too expensive and heavy weighted with complex control mechanism, thus limiting their availability for most of the amputees. In an attempt to address this issues, a low-cost and humanoid prosthetic hand is designed and developed in this study. The designed prosthetic hand attempts to utilize a compact and simplified structure with a single actuator to realize basic hand functions in activities of daily living (ADLs). We compared the real human hand and the designed prosthetic hand, and found that their workspace are high overlap. In addition, three experiments were conducted to examine the grasping range, performance of grasping of special shaped objects and grasping force of our designed prosthetic hand. From the experimental results, we found that the designed prosthetic hand can complete basic hand functions and would be helpful during ADLs. Therefore, the designed prosthetic hand could potentially serve as an alternative means of meeting the long awaited needs of amputees, especially those with limited residual muscle who are unable to provide sufficient control signals.