Design of Finger and Thumb Mechanism for Prosthetic Arm.

In developing countries like India, the accessibility of prosthetic arm with fingers movement for day to day activities is very costly and hence it is not affordable for common persons. Most of the available solutions of prosthetic arm are only for cosmetic purpose as they have limited movements. In the present work a novel mechanism for fingers and thumb actuation which can perform various pick and place movements is presented. The model has four fingers and thumb to mimic human palm and its movements. Anthropometric statistics are used for reference of human hand dimensions. Design of hand is done using Catia VS design software. The arm is produced by using 3D printing. The combination of spur and bevel gear linkages used in mechanism for finger movement is the same for four fingers and another mechanism for thumb has been used. Five separate DC motors, one for each finer actuation, have been used. ATmega328P A VR 8 bit microcontroller has been used to control the motion of hand with snap action microswitches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]