A parametric 3D-printed body-powered hand prosthesis based on the four-bar linkage mechanism

Marlene Bustamante, Rodrigo Vega-Centeno, Midori Sánchez, Renato Mio

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

13 Scopus citations

Abstract

The widespread of 3D-printing technology has resulted in the appearance of many open-source prosthetic hand models, especially for partial hand amputations. However, most of these designs are not editable and while some are parametric to some degree, customization for every user is limited to scaling the size of a base design. As consequence, most prostheses fail to closely match the user specific anthropometry and have poor aesthetics, which could result in abandonment of the device. Furthermore, achieving a high degree of customization could be a time-consuming task and requires previous knowledge of CAD design. This work presents a prosthetic hand easy to customize by changing parametric dimensions of the finger phalanges and palm on an Excel sheet. Additionally, the design tackles common issues from previous 3D-printed body-powered prosthetic hands by incorporating new features such as the use of linkages instead of cables as finger flexors and a new cable-adjusting system which requires no additional tools and makes the tensioning of finger tendons easier and quicker.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationProceedings - 2018 IEEE 18th International Conference on Bioinformatics and Bioengineering, BIBE 2018
PublisherInstitute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
Pages79-85
Number of pages7
ISBN (Electronic)9781538662168
DOIs
StatePublished - 6 Dec 2018
Event18th IEEE International Conference on Bioinformatics and Bioengineering, BIBE 2018 - Taichung, Taiwan, Province of China
Duration: 29 Oct 201831 Oct 2018

Publication series

NameProceedings - 2018 IEEE 18th International Conference on Bioinformatics and Bioengineering, BIBE 2018

Conference

Conference18th IEEE International Conference on Bioinformatics and Bioengineering, BIBE 2018
Country/TerritoryTaiwan, Province of China
CityTaichung
Period29/10/1831/10/18

Keywords

  • 3D-printing
  • Body-powered prosthesis
  • Parametric design
  • Rehabilitation
  • Upper-limb prosthetics

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