EMG Controlled Modular Prosthetic Hand–Design and Prototyping

Prosthetic hands can be essential for those without a biological hand(s) to accomplish everyday tasks but the cost, of up to tens of thousands, keeps them out of reach for many people. This paper reports on the development of a low-cost affordable and adaptable 3D printed modular prosthetic hand. The prosthetic is also able to adapt to many different users through the use of electromyographic sensors; a neural network and a genetic algorithm built into the software. In addition, if the user gains muscular definition in their forearm, the system can be retrained to adapt. The final product is a 3D printed, motorized, prosthetic hand, with interchangeable motors and fingers costing less than £400 to produce. Preliminary experiments with the developed prototype indicate that the presented hand has a great potential in prostheses.