Non-Invasive Prosthetic Hand Model

Prosthetics are artificial devices that replace a missing body part, which may be lost through, disease, accidents or combat in times of warfare. The exponential advances in microprocessor technology coupled with affordability have spawned an online support community that have incorporated cost-effective microcontrollers in interesting applications. In relation to prosthetics, scientists and engineers frequent drawing boards periodically to update prosthetic design, each time incorporating more features that are increasingly less noticeable to the user. However, strict standards for medical devices and demand for reliability mean very few implementations have progressed from research and development phases to production for the commercial sector. The scientific community has been working diligently on this frontier for decades but it is still considered an open problem needing to be solved. Even though many breakthroughs are likely to occur within the next decade, the likelihood of cost effective implementation from large-scale research projects is slim meaning most amputees will not be able to afford this technology. This research is focused on the implementation a prototype of a non-invasive prosthetic hand model replicated by a robotic hand. Electromyography is the study of electrical signals produced by the movement of muscles in the human body .The prototype will be designed to use pre-processed electromyography signals as control signals in order to demonstrate replication of simple hand movements. This research project will be completed by first examining pre-processed electromyography signals identified that trigger specific hand movements and then programming microcontrollers to recognize these signals, which leads to ultimately replicating hand movements by controlling the servo motors of a robotic hand. The effective combination of hardware and software has yet to be determined. This research benefits society because it will provide insight to using cost effective hardware as a basis for prosthetic limb control thus allowing future products in the commercial sector to benefit from these savings