Development of artificial arms for therapy process by using microcontroller system

This thesis presents a biomechatronics approach to the design and fabrication of an artificial robotic arm called Artificial Hand Gripper (AHG), consisting of a shoulder, arm, elbow, forearm, wrist and hand. Detail 3D designs of the AHG are described including an elbow powered by a car's power window motor, DC motor powered wrist and a string actuated AHG with 5 artificial fingers which acts as slave controlled by a Smart Glove (master). Moreover, the Smart Glove is attached with force sensitive resistor sensors give this device the capability to evaluate the strength of the patient's hand grasp. The data from the sensors are sent to an Arduino microcontroller for data processing and then transmitted to PC via HyperTerminal software for data analyses. The proposed design provides a novel tool towards upper limb amputee rehabilitation process. The AHG incorporates a master-slave system which proven suitable for Mirror Visual Feedback (MVF) therapy experimented on subject towards the completion of this research. Although there are many hand prostheses which are commercially available, however, due to the disadvantages such as weight, high-cost and complex mechanisms, this paper proposed new ideas on solving these problems by designing an artificial arm which gives good cosmetic appearance, functional, low-cost and users friendly.