Abstract
Advancement of technology brought along many prostheses design and developments. The main purpose of prostheses are to improve the life standard of people with limb loss. There are many types of prostheses that were developed in recent years. Prostheses can compensate many limb losses, upper body prostheses can be for not only finger losses but also full arm losses. Finger losses are the most common limb losses. Finger prostheses are imitating the functionality of human fingers. However most of the finger prostheses are only for cosmetic purposes and non-functional. On the other hand, the most of the functional prostheses are not perfectly fit to the users and are not designed personalised. Another big problem, some prostheses need a surgical operation to apply. The main purpose of this study is to design a finger prosthesis that is a perfect fit to user (personalised), easy to apply (does not required surgical operation), accessible (easy to manufacture) and sustainable. In this study, finger prosthesis was modelled based on human hand skeleton structure from computerized tomography (CT) images. Index finger distal and middle phalanges bones were removed from the hand model to simulate finger losses. Finger prosthesis was created on the modelled skeleton structure. Hand skeleton model and newly designed prosthesis were assembled by using CAD software. The designed prosthesis movement capability was examined, parts size and connections were optimised. Gripping ability of the designed prosthesis were analysed by kinematic analyses and a new mathematic model was developed. Created mathematic model can be use at other user’s prosthesis, in this way analyses are not required for new designs, user parameters and measurements are enough to future designs manufacturs. Joint rotation rates were set to grip 40 mm diameter cylinder. The gripping ability of the newly designed finger prosthesis was analysed. Mechanical structure and movement abilities of the prosthesis were confirmed by experiments and measurements. Gripping tests are show that, designed and optimised prosthesis capable to grip perfectly 38-42 mm diameter cylinder. Smaller object also can be moved using prosthesis finger tips.