Development of Mechanism for Finger Prosthesis

Abstract

Nowadays prosthetic fingers provide not only a cosmetic solution to the problem, but mainly they provide function. 3D printing is an ideal technology for the manufacturing of low-cost prostheses, especially the upper limb prosthetics. The advantages offered by this technology make it possible to increase the level of creativity, personalization and at the same time provide space for new variants of control mechanisms regarding movement efficiency. The aim of the paper is to present variant design of a finger prosthesis manufactured by 3D printing, which have been developed and tested at the Department of Biomedical Engineering and Measurement, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Technical University of Košice. Those variants can flex in specified areas and copy the function of a real finger as much as possible. To ensure flexion in the joints, and at the same time achieve sufficient gripping force is a very current problem. This article offers the possibility of solving this problem, and gives evaluation of individual print variants. The results are very useful in the hand prostheses designing process and provide suitable economical solutions without reduction to the effectiveness of the prosthesis.