Paper 8: A Self-Adaptive Gripping Device: Its Design and Performance

Owing to the impossibility of fully replacing a wearer's lost sensation within a prosthetic limb, a compromise must be made. Externally powered limbs are often ‘driven’ by a wearer, causing high fatigue and energy expenditure. In order to combat this problem a prosthetic hook has been constructed which measures the weight of an object being held and corrects the grip automatically, this being analogous to the human reflex action. A description is given of the construction and operation of the device, as well as a brief examination of the picking-up operation using the natural hand.