Anthropomorphic transradial myoelectric hand using tendon-spring mechanism

Abstract

In the developing countries, the need for prosthetic hands is increasing. In general, transradial amputee patients use prosthetic hands that are passive like a body-powered prosthesis. This research proposes a low-cost myoelectric prosthetic hand based on 3D printing technology. Hand and finger size were designed based on the average size of human hands in Indonesia. The proposed myoelectric hand employs linear actuator combined with the tendon-spring mechanism. Myoelectric hand was developed with five modes of grip pattern to perform various object grasping in activity of daily living. Control strategy had been developed for controlling the motion of flexion and extension on the hand and saving the energy consumed by the actuators. The control strategy was developed under MATLAB/Simulink environment and embedded to Arduino Nano V3 using Simulink Support Package for Arduino Hardware. Surface electromyography (EMG) sensor was used in this research for reading the muscle activity of the user/wearer. The proposed myoelectric hand had been tested in object grasping test and was implemented on a study participant with transradial amputee.