Prosthetic Innovation on Tetraplegic People: Tongue Driven 3D Printed Partial Hand Prosthesis

Tongue-driven 3D printed partial-hand prosthetic primarily aims to operate using the movements of the tongue of the users. It surpasses the dependency of prostheses on bioelectric signals as it is difficult to obtain them in the case of tetraplegic individuals. With a 3D design crafted after a thorough analysis of the biomechanics of the hand and based on the average dimensions of a typical human hand, the artificial hand can be operated to perform basic holding and releasing actions. This artificial hand enables basic finger flexion and extension motions. It uses the principle of Hall Effect to reduce the physical effort provided by the users as in body-powered artificial limbs. This artificial hand works on simple voluntary tongue movements of users to push the magnet towards the Hall Effect sensors. This movement can be used to perform holding and releasing actions of the human hand in activities of daily living (ADL). With just two sensors, two degrees of freedom was replicated. It's apparent from the findings that expanding the number of sensors in the system could facilitate the development of transradial or transhumeral artificial limbs to enable additional movements.