Mechanical design and performance specifications of anthropomorphic prosthetic hands: a review.
01 Jan 2013-Journal of Rehabilitation Research and Development (J Rehabil Res Dev)-Vol. 50, Iss: 5, pp 599-618
TL;DR: A detailed analysis of the mechanical characteristics of anthropomorphic prosthetic hands is set forth, including number of actuators and hand complexity, hand weight, and grasp force, and a set of rules of thumb regarding the mechanical design.
Abstract: In this article, we set forth a detailed analysis of the mechanical characteristics of anthropomorphic prosthetic hands. We report on an empirical study concerning the perfor- mance of several commercially available myoelectric pros- thetic hands, including the Vincent, iLimb, iLimb Pulse, Bebionic, Bebionic v2, and Michelangelo hands. We investi- gated the finger design and kinematics, mechanical joint cou- pling, and actuation methods of these commercial prosthetic hands. The empirical findings are supplemented with a compi- lation of published data on both commercial and prototype research prosthetic hands. We discuss numerous mechanical design parameters by referencing examples in the literature. Crucial design trade-offs are highlighted, including number of actuators and hand complexity, hand weight, and grasp force. Finally, we offer a set of rules of thumb regarding the mechani- cal design of anthropomorphic prosthetic hands.
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TL;DR: Current state-of-the-art of manipulation and grasping applications that involve artificial sense of touch that involve algorithms and tactile feedback-based control systems that exploit signals from the sensors are reviewed.
599 citations
TL;DR: The iRobot-Harvard-Yale (iHY) Hand is introduced, an underactuated hand driven by five actuators that is capable of performing a wide range of grasping and in-hand repositioning tasks.
Abstract: This paper introduces the iRobot-Harvard-Yale (iHY) Hand, an underactuated hand driven by five actuators that is capable of performing a wide range of grasping and in-hand repositioning tasks. This hand was designed to address the need for a durable, inexpensive, moderately dexterous hand suitable for use on mobile robots. The primary focus of this paper will be on the novel simplified design of the iHY Hand, which was developed by choosing a set of target tasks around which the hand was optimized. Particular emphasis is placed on the development of underactuated fingers that are capable of both firm power grasps and low-stiffness fingertip grasps using only the compliant mechanics of the fingers. Experimental results demonstrate successful grasping of a wide range of target objects, the stability of fingertip grasping, and the ability to adjust the force exerted on grasped objects using high-impedance actuators and underactuated fingers.
467 citations
Cites background from "Mechanical design and performance s..."
...The total of five actuators places the hand in the middle of the range of the robotic hands available for research and prosthetic applications, well below most general-purpose research hands but above most underactuated grippers (Belter et al., 2013)....
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...applications, well below most general-purpose research hands but above most underactuated grippers (Belter et al., 2013)....
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TL;DR: A literature review on needs analysis of upper limb prosthesis users is presented, and the main critical aspects of the current prosthetic solutions are pointed out, in terms of users satisfaction and activities of daily living they would like to perform with the prosthetic device.
Abstract: The loss of one hand can significantly affect the level of autonomy and the capability of performing daily living, working and social activities. The current prosthetic solutions contribute in a poor way to overcome these problems due to the limitations of the interfaces adopted for controlling the prosthesis and to the absence of force or tactile feedback which limit the hand grasp capabilities. In order to provide indications for further developments in the prosthetic field to increase user satisfaction rates and therefore to reduce device abandonment, this paper reports a literature review on needs analysis of upper limb prosthesis users, by pointing out the critical aspects of the prosthetic solutions in terms of users satisfaction and activities of daily living they would like to perform with the prosthetic device. A list of requirements for upper limb prostheses is proposed, grounded on the performed analysis on user needs. The defined list of requirements for the prosthetic system aims to provide (i) some guidelines for improving the level of acceptability and usefulness of the prosthesis, by accounting for hand functional and technical aspects; (ii) a possible functional scheme of a PNS-based prosthetic system able to satisfy the emerged user wishes; (iii) some hints for improving the quality of the methods (such as questionnaires) adopted for understanding the user satisfaction with their prosthesis.
461 citations
Cites background from "Mechanical design and performance s..."
...…of upper limb prostheses is still coarse, progress in mechanics (Atzori and Muller, 2015) is notable, as confirmed by the advanced poliarticulated myoelectric prosthetic hands available on the market (i.e., the i-Limb4, the Bebionic5, and the Michelangelo6 hands in Figure 3; Belter et al., 2013)....
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Posted Content•
TL;DR: The i-HY Hand as discussed by the authors is an underactuated hand driven by five actuators that is capable of performing a wide range of grasping and in-hand manipulation tasks on mobile robots.
Abstract: This paper introduces the i-HY Hand, an underactuated hand driven by 5 actuators that is capable of performing a wide range of grasping and in-hand manipulation tasks. This hand was designed to address the need for a durable, inexpensive, moderately dexterous hand suitable for use on mobile robots. The primary focus of this paper will be on the novel minimalistic design of i-HY, which was developed by choosing a set of target tasks around which the design of the hand was optimized. Particular emphasis is placed on the development of underactuated fingers that are capable of both firm power grasps and low- stiffness fingertip grasps using only the passive mechanics of the finger mechanism. Experimental results demonstrate successful grasping of a wide range of target objects, the stability of fingertip grasping, as well as the ability to adjust the force exerted on grasped objects using the passive finger mechanics.
339 citations
01 Jun 2016
TL;DR: The results indicate that the proposed features can achieve significant reductions in classification error rates in comparison to other well-known feature extraction methods, achieving improvements of 6% to 8% in the average classification performance across all subjects and force levels, when training with all forces.
Abstract: We investigate the problem of achieving robust control of hand prostheses by the electromyogram (EMG) of transradial amputees in the presence of variable force levels, as these variations can have a substantial impact on the robustness of the control of the prostheses. We also propose a novel set of features that aim at reducing the impact of force level variations on the prosthesis controlled by amputees. These features characterize the EMG activity by means of the orientation between a set of spectral moments descriptors extracted from the EMG signal and a nonlinearly mapped version of it. At the same time, our feature extraction method processes the EMG signals directly from the time-domain to reduce computational cost. The performance of the proposed features is tested on EMG data collected from nine transradial amputees performing six classes of movements each with three force levels. Our results indicate that the proposed features can achieve significant reductions in classification error rates in comparison to other well-known feature extraction methods, achieving improvements of $\approx 6\hbox{\%}$ to 8% in the average classification performance across all subjects and force levels, when training with all forces.
250 citations
Cites background from "Mechanical design and performance s..."
...These include advanced research hands [4]–[7] and commercially available hands [8]–[11], with some of them employing conventional myoelectric control strategies [12]....
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References
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TL;DR: The results suggest that the control of hand posture involves a few postural synergies, regulating the general shape of the hand, coupled with a finer control mechanism providing for small, subtle adjustments.
Abstract: Subjects were asked to shape the right hand as if to grasp and use a large number of familiar objects. The chosen objects typically are held with a variety of grips, including “precision” and “power” grips. Static hand posture was measured by recording the angular position of 15 joint angles of the fingers and of the thumb. Although subjects adopted distinct hand shapes for the various objects, the joint angles of the digits did not vary independently. Principal components analysis showed that the first two components could account for >80% of the variance, implying a substantial reduction from the 15 degrees of freedom that were recorded. However, even though they were small, higher-order (more than three) principal components did not represent random variability but instead provided additional information about the object. These results suggest that the control of hand posture involves a few postural synergies, regulating the general shape of the hand, coupled with a finer control mechanism providing for small, subtle adjustments. Because the postural synergies did not coincide with grip taxonomies, the results suggest that hand posture may be regulated independently from the control of the contact forces that are used to grasp an object.
1,123 citations
"Mechanical design and performance s..." refers background in this paper
...In theory, a grasping hand can be designed with 2 DOFs (actuators) since grasping is a low dimensional task [45] requiring a minimum of 1 to 2 DOFs to execute all functional grasps (lateral, palmar, power)....
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01 Mar 1975
TL;DR: In this article, the mass distribution characteristics of the human body as described by the principal moments of inertia and their orientation to body and segment anthropometry are described. And the mass, center of mass, moment of inertia, and volume were measured on the fourteen segments from each cadaver.
Abstract: : Knowledge of the anthropometric parameters of the human body is essential for understanding of human kinetics and particularly for the design and testing of impact protective systems. Considerable information is available on the size, weight and center of mass of the body and its segments. This report supplements existing information with data regarding mass distribution characteristics of the human body as described by the principal moments of inertia and their orientation to body and segment anthropometry. The weight, center of mass location and principal moments of inertia of six cadavers were measured, the cadavers were then segmented and the mass, center of mass, moments of inertia and volume were measured on the fourteen segments from each cadaver. Standard and three-dimensional anthropometry of the body and segments was also determined.
601 citations
TL;DR: The specific functions that various levels of upper-extremity amputees gain from their prostheses as well as the device features that aid or detract from their functions are discussed.
Abstract: More than 6,600 one-page surveys were sent to individuals throughout the country with upper-limb loss or absence. Of those surveys, 2,477 were returned, and demographic information was recorded. A more comprehensive seven-page survey was then sent to the respondents who agreed to participate
533 citations
"Mechanical design and performance s..." refers background in this paper
...[6], that capture use and task information for numerous prostheses from myoelectric to simple cosmetic devices with the end goal of ranking and improving design characteristics for prosthetic hands....
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TL;DR: Lower cost ranked within the top five design priorities for adult wearers of all device types and life-like appearance is a priority for passive/cosmetic prostheses, while improved harness comfort, wrist movement, grip control and strength are required for body-powered devices.
Abstract: Purpose. To measure consumer satisfaction with upper limb prosthetics and provide an enumerated list of design priorities for future developments.Methods. A self-administered, anonymous survey collected information on participant demographics, history of and goals for prosthesis use, satisfaction, and design priorities. The questionnaire was available online and in paper format and was distributed through healthcare providers, community support groups, and one prosthesis manufacturer; 242 participants of all ages and levels of upper limb absence completed the survey.Results. Rates of rejection for myoelectric hands, passive hands, and body-powered hooks were 39%, 53%, and 50%, respectively. Prosthesis wearers were generally satisfied with their devices while prosthesis rejecters were dissatisfied. Reduced prosthesis weight emerged as the highest priority design concern of consumers. Lower cost ranked within the top five design priorities for adult wearers of all device types. Life-like appearance is a pri...
464 citations
"Mechanical design and performance s..." refers background in this paper
...present design priorities as a result of a survey of upper-limb prosthesis users but do not state the actual parameters of the devices that were evaluated [4]....
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...Previous review articles on prosthetic hands have been published [1–4]....
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...found that users rated the weight of the device as 70 on a scale of 0 (not important) to 100 (most important) in regards to the design priorities of prosthetic hands [4]....
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TL;DR: A novel adaptive and compliant grasper that can grasp objects spanning a wide range of size, shape, mass, and position/orientation using only a single actuator is demonstrated.
Abstract: The inherent uncertainty associated with unstructured environments makes establishing a successful grasp difficult. Traditional approaches to this problem involve hands that are complex, fragile, require elaborate sensor suites, and are difficult to control. Alternatively, by carefully designing the mechanical structure of the hand to incorporate features such as compliance and adaptability, the uncertainty inherent in unstructured grasping tasks can be more easily accommodated. In this paper, we demonstrate a novel adaptive and compliant grasper that can grasp objects spanning a wide range of size, shape, mass, and position/orientation using only a single actuator. The hand is constructed using polymer-based Shape Deposition Manufacturing (SDM) and has superior robustness properties, making it able to withstand large impacts without damage. We also present the results of two experiments to demonstrate that the SDM Hand can reliably grasp objects in the presence of large positioning errors, while keeping acquisition contact forces low. In the first, we evaluate the amount of allowable manipulator positioning error that results in a successful grasp. In the second experiment, the hand autonomously grasps a wide range of spherical objects positioned randomly across the workspace, guided by only a single image from an overhead camera, using feed-forward control of the hand.
459 citations
"Mechanical design and performance s..." refers background in this paper
...These mechanisms are considered adaptive because, when they are used in a hand, they allow multiple links of the fingers to passively adapt to the shape and location of an object with a single actuator [37–38]....
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