A modular, open-source 3D printed underactuated hand

Commercially available robotic hands are often expensive, customized for specific platforms, and difficult to modify. In this paper, we present the design of an open-source, low-cost, single actuator underactuated hand that can be created through fast and commonly-accessible rapid-prototyping techniques and simple, off-the-shelf components. This project establishes the design of an adaptive, four-finger hand utilizing simple 3D-printed components, compliant flexure joints, and readily obtainable off-the-shelf parts. Modular and adjustable finger designs are provided, giving the user a range of options depending on the intended use of the hand. The design tradeoffs and decisions made to achieve the 3D-printable, compact and lightweight robotic gripper are discussed, as well as a preliminary discussion of the performance differences between the finger designs. The authors intend this work to be the first in a series of open-source designs to be released, and through the contributions of the open-source user community, result in a large number of design modifications and variations available to researchers.