Design of a multifunctional anthropomorphic prosthetic hand with extrinsic actuation

This paper presents an anthropomorphic prototype hand prosthesis that is intended for use with a multiple channel myoelectric interface. The hand contains 16 joints, which are differentially driven by a set of five independent actuators. The hand prototype was designed with the minimum number of independent actuators required to provide a set of eight canonical hand postures. This paper describes the design of the prosthesis prototype, demonstrates the hand in the desired eight canonical postures, and experimentally characterizes the force and speed capability of the device. A video is included in the supplemental material that also illustrates the functionality and performance of the hand.