How does this artificial limb work??

Post Reply New Topic

I'm a fan of tech but what makes the hand clench and open?

electricity? muscle clenching? magnets? what?

http://enablingthefuture.org/upper-limb ... s/rit-arm/

That's really interesting. From looking at it, it looks like there are strings attached to the fingers that go through the arm, and when the person bends the elbow, it pulls those strings, making the fingers clench. You can see a demonstration of this here.

Browsing around the site it seems they are muscle powered, by either elbow or shoulder movement depending on what is available. Interestingly, it also appears that even the semi-elastic "tendons" are printed in situ.

So a person tenses the muscle and the hand clenches?

The arm has a hinge where the elbow (or wrist, on the wrist-based model) is, so it's the movement of the elbow that pulls strings, which then pull the fingers closed. If the person is missing an elbow, the device won't work.