Thesis-2003-Zecca.pdf (19.07 MB)
On the development of a cybernetic prosthetic hand
The human hand is the end organ of the upper limb, which in humans serves the important
function of prehension, as well as being an important organ for sensation and communication.
It is a marvellous example of how a complex mechanism can be implemented,
capable of realizing very complex and useful tasks using a very effective combination of
mechanisms, sensing, actuation and control functions.
In this thesis, the road towards the realization of a cybernetic hand has been presented.
After a detailed analysis of the model, the human hand, a deep review of the state of the
art of artificial hands has been carried out. In particular, the performance of prosthetic
hands used in clinical practice has been compared with the research prototypes, both for
prosthetic and for robotic applications. By following a biomechatronic approach, i.e. by
comparing the characteristics of these hands with the natural model, the human hand, the
limitations of current artificial devices will be put in evidence, thus outlining the design
goals for a new cybernetic device.
Three hand prototypes with a high number of degrees of freedom have been realized and
tested: the first one uses microactuators embedded inside the structure of the fingers, and
the second and third prototypes exploit the concept of microactuation in order to increase
the dexterity of the hand while maintaining the simplicity for the control. In particular, a
framework for the definition and realization of the closed-loop electromyographic control of
these devices has been presented and implemented.
The results were quite promising, putting in evidence that, in the future, there could
be two different approaches for the realization of artificial devices. On one side there
could be the EMG-controlled hands, with compliant fingers but only one active degree of
freedom. On the other side, more performing artificial hands could be directly interfaced
with the peripheral nervous system, thus establishing a bi-directional communication with
the human brain.
History
School
- Mechanical, Electrical and Manufacturing Engineering
Publisher
© Massimiliano ZeccaPublisher statement
This work is made available according to the conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) licence. Full details of this licence are available at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/Publication date
2003Notes
A Doctoral Thesis. Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy of the Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna di Studi Universitari e di Perfezionamento.Language
- en