Open AccessDevelopment of Self-Powered 5-Finger Pneumatically Driven Hand Prosthesis Using Supination of Forearm
Author(s) -
Kotaro Nishikawa,
Kentaro Hirata,
Masahiro TAKAIWA
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
journal of robotics and mechatronics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.257
H-Index - 19
eISSN - 1883-8049
pISSN - 0915-3942
DOI - 10.20965/jrm.2022.p0454
Subject(s) - bellows , pneumatic actuator , actuator , grasp , prosthetic hand , pneumatics , prosthesis , forearm , computer science , engineering , biomedical engineering , mechanical engineering , artificial intelligence , surgery , medicine , programming language
Recently, myoelectric hand prostheses produced by the combination of 3D-CAD and printer have gained attention. 3D printing of hand prosthesis has resulted in cost reduction. However, when an electric actuator with reduction gears is used as the driving source of the hand prosthesis, the joint rigidity becomes high; therefore, compliance control is required to grasp soft target objects. In this study, we propose a pneumatically driven hand prosthesis using a flexible bellows actuator. The hand prosthesis is lightweight and inexpensive because it is self-powered and generates compressed air through the supination motion of the user’s forearm instead of an external compressor, which is essential for conventional pneumatic systems. Stable flexible grasping of the target object was achieved by driving a five-finger hand using this system.