Design analysis and development of low cost underactuated Robotic hand

This paper represents the control and driving mechanism of IVLABS Robotic hand, which aims to grab different objects performing various types of grasps while retaining the resemblance of a human hand; thus it is able to function as a Prosthetic hand. Meanwhile, it is vital that such hands be highly functional, light weight, provide ease of attachment and control for people and have minimum wear and tear. But their cost generally makes them unaffordable to a larger section of people. Hence, this paper focuses on the design of hand, that is cost-effective yet imparts maximum functionality by using simple actuation and using proximity sensors on fingers; replacing generally used Electromyography (EMG) sensors for user controlled grabbing. Being these the objectives we designed the tendon-driven under-actuated fingers and 3D-printed the hand model and carried out various grabbing experiments.