Improving Prosthetics by Using Silicone as an Artificial Skin

Artificial skins that reproduce the sensation of touch are extremely valuable when designing prosthetic limbs. This natural sensation is critical for amputees who employ a prosthetic hand for everyday tasks such as holding or gripping objects. The use of silicone as an artificial skin covering on the fingertips of a prosthetic hand has the potential to significantly decrease the amount of force necessary to hold an object since silicone can improve the ability to mimic the sensation of touch. An experiment was conducted with a 3D-printed prosthetic hand to measure the force required to hold a common object such as a water bottle. Trials were conducted for both an uncovered prosthetic hand and the prosthetic hand covered with silicone skin, and the force was measured using an Arduino UNO microcontroller board in conjunction with a force sensitive resistor (FSR). The results of this experiment supported that the use of silicone skin on the fingertips of the prosthetic hand resulted in a significant decrease in the amount of force necessary to hold an object, likely due to its frictional properties. This work provides new insights into the design of artificial skins and the calibration of force feedback for prosthetic hands.