Design and control of an active palm roll joint for the human prosthetic hand

Abstract

This paper presents the design and control of a human prosthetic hand with an active palm roll joint. An active palm roll to a prosthetic hand will add a new degree-of-freedom, which can maximize the functionality and capability of performing complex tasks. The palm roll combined with the thumb allows the finger tips to touch one another and pinching to become a possible task for the user In addition to maximizing the functionality of the hand, the inclusion of an active palm joint in the design provides a useful function for the design of prosthetics for children and the elderly who do not have enough upper arm strength to grasp objects firmly in their hand. The kinematics and workspace analyses of the pinky fingertips with the active palm joint and the thumb are also conducted in this study. With the added palm joint, the interaction of the workspace of the pinky fingertip and the thumb-tip is maximized, which allows grasping and manipulating different sizes and shapes of an object. Experiments are conducted to demonstrate the use of the active palm joint in grasping of objects.