Realistic and Highly Functional Pediatric Externally Powered Prosthetic Hand Using Pneumatic Soft Actuators

It is known that introducing a pediatric externally powered prosthetic hand from an early age has certain merits such as the recovery of body image. However, this process is not popular in Japan. The high cost and technological problems of the hand have resulted in difficulty in its popularization. The pediatric prosthetic hand must be lighter and smaller than the adult one. Furthermore, parents of users prefer a prosthetic hand, such as a human arm and hand. We developed a prosthetic hand that demonstrates certain functionalities and appearances similar to a real human hand. The prosthetic hand consists of miniature McKibben actuators and is manufactured from acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene resin and covered by a silicon glove. It has flexible joint structures and can grasp objects of various shapes. In this paper, we present a prototype of the pediatric prosthetic hand and the results of gripping experiments, bending and extension of finger experiments, and user tests.