DOI 10.1007/s00422-006-0124-2 ORIGINAL PAPER Design of a cybernetic hand for perception and action

Abstract Strong motivation for developing new prosthetic hand devices is provided by the fact that low functionality and controllability—in addition to poor cosmetic appearance—are the most important reasons why amputees do not regularly use their prosthetic hands. This paper presents the design of theCyberHand, a cybernetic anthropomorphic hand intended to provide amputees with functional hand replacement. Its design was bio-inspired in terms of its modular architecture, its physical appearance, kinematics, sensorization, and actuation, and its multilevel control system. Its under-actuated mechanisms allow separate control of each digit as well as thumb–finger opposition and, accord-ingly, can generate a multitude of grasps. Its sensory system was designed to provide proprioceptive infor-mation as well as to emulate fundamental functional properties of human tactile mechanoreceptors of spe-cific importance for grasp-and-hold tasks. The Cyber-Hand control system presumes just a few efferent and afferent channels and was divided in two main layers: a high-level control that interprets the user’s intention (grasp selection and required force level) and can pro-vide pertinent sensory feedback and a low-level control responsible for actuating specific grasps andapplying th