Strength and Fatigue Analysis of FDM-fabricated Non-assembly Bi-material Compliant Mechanisms

Multi-material compliant mechanisms have shown the potential to be utilized in the upper-limb prosthesis. The mechanisms consist of flexural and rigid parts, where the flexural components can serve as flexible joints between rigid bodies in the device (e.g., finger and finger segments). This configuration is feasible to be fabricated using a...

Design, Fabrication, and Evaluation of a 3D printable locking mechanism for 3D printed transradial hand prosthesis suitable for developing countries

Fatigue Testing of 3D-Printed Compliant Joints: An Experimental Study

As interest in additive manufacturing, or 3D printing, increases, technological improvements are making printing methods quicker and more cost efficient. Inventors and innovators are able to print low-cost and complex geometries rapidly as a result of the manufacturing time being reduced from weeks to hours. With the large amount of polymeric...

Simple Upper Limb Prosthesis with External Power Support for Cineplastic Control

The work presented in the thesis was motivated by the history of cineplasty and aims to create a supportive system for the body powered upper limb prostheses. A mechanical signal (pulling) from a cineplastic site or a harness system (e.g. shoulder harness) is used to control a prosthetic device. These signals are often too weak to comfortably...

The Hybrid Finger: Combining Nature with Technology into a 3D Printed Finger for a Hand Prosthesis with Minimized Assembly

Access to prosthetics is very limited to many potential<br/>users, while the need is high. There are two main reasons<br/>for this that both are related to the production of prosthetics: the lack of skilled people and high costs. Minimized<br/>assembly production using 3D printing could be a solution: no training is required, assembly takes only...