A mechanism to compensate undesired stiffness in joints of prosthetic hands

Background: Cosmetic gloves that cover a prosthetic hand have a parasitic positive stiffness that counteracts the flexion of a finger joint. Objectives: Reducing the required input torque to move a finger of a prosthetic hand by compensating the parasitic stiffness of the cosmetic glove. Study design: Experimental, test bench. Methods: The parasitic positive stiffness and the required input torques of a polyvinyl chloride glove and a silicone glove were measured when flexing a metacarpophalangeal finger joint for 90°. To compensate this positive stiffness, an adjustable compensation mechanism with a negative stiffness was designed and built. A MATLAB model was created to predict the optimal settings of the mechanism, based on the measured stiffness, in order to minimize the required input torque of the total system. The mechanism was tested in its optimal setting with an applied glove. Results: The mechanism reduced the required input torque by 58% for the polyvinyl chloride glove and by 52% for the silicone glove. The total energy dissipation of the joint did not change significantly. Conclusions: This study shows that the undesired positive stiffness in the joint can be compensated with a relatively simple negative stiffness mechanism, which fits inside a finger of a standard cosmetic glove. Clinical relevance This study presents a mechanism that compensates the undesired stiffness of cosmetic gloves on prosthetic hands. As a result, it requires less input force, torque and energy to move the fingers. Application of this mechanism in body-powered hands will reduce the control effort of the user