TECHNICAL SEMINAR PRESENTATION ON

BIOMECHATRONIC HAND
Guide Name: Mr. Harish U (Asst. Prof.)

PRESENTED BY :
NAME: GURUSWAMY H
USN: 1KS17ME410
EMAIL ID: gurumhg@gmail.com
Contents
 Introduction
 Biomechatronic design
 Architecture of the biomechatronic hand
 Literature survey
 Actuation system
 Index/middle finger design
 Thumb design
 Hand assembling and fabrication
 Finger tip force characterization
 Position sensor
 Future improvements
 Conclusion
 Reference
INTRODUCTION
 The objective of the work of an bio mechatronic is to develop
an artificial hand which can be used for functional substitution
of the natural hand (prosthetics) and for humanoid robotics
applications.

 The artificial hand is designed for replicating sensory-motor

capabilities of human hand.

 Commercially available prosthetic devices, such as Otto Bock

Sensor Hand, as well as multifunctional hand designs are far
from providing the grasping capabilities of the human hand.
INTRODUCTION
 In prosthetic hands active bending is restricted to two or three
joints, which are actuated by single motor drive acting
simultaneously on the metacarpo-phalangeal (MP) joints of
the thumb, of the index and of the middle finger, while other
joints can bend only passively.
 This limitation in dexterity is mainly due to the very basic
requirement of limited size and weight necessary for
prosthetic applications.
 On the other hand robotics hands have achieved high level
performance in grasping and manipulation, but they make use
of large controllers which are not applicable in prosthetics or
humanoid robotics where it is necessary to provide the user
with a wearable artificial hand.
BIO MECHATRONIC DESIGN
 The main requirements to be considered since the very
beginning of a artificial hand design are the following: natural
appearance, controllability, noiselessness, lightness and low
energy consumption.
 These requirements can be fulfilled by implementing an
integrated design approach aimed at embedding different
functions (mechanisms, actuation, sensing and control) within
a housing closely replicating the shape, size and appearance of
the human hand.
 This approach can be synthesized by the term:
“biomechatronic” design.
Architecture of the biomechatronic hand
 The biomechatronic hand will be equipped with three finger to
provide a tripod grasp: two identical finger.
 The finger actuator system is based on two micro-actuators,
which drive the MP and the PIP joints respectively; for cosmetic
reasons, both actuators are fully integrated in the hand structure:
the first in the palm and the second within the proximal phalange.
 The grasping task performed by the biomechatronic hand is
divided in two subsequent phases:
1) Reaching and shape-adapting phases;
2) Grasping phase with thumb opposition.
Architecture of the biomechatronic hand

Fig. : Architecture of the

biomechatronic hand
Literature survey
Title Author Publications and Conclusion
citation details
Mechanical design and Joseph T JRRD. Volume 50. • The total weight of the prosthesis should
performance belter, Jacob Nov 5 2015 be below 500 g. A lighter prosthetic
specification of L. segil, hand is particularly better for people
anthropomorphic Richard F with high-level amputation because of
prosthetic hand weir power and weight constraints of the
entire prosthetic arm.
• The brushless motors instead of brushed
motors is preferred because of
performance versus weight
considerations
• A maximum pinch force at the finger tip
of 65 N during palmar prehension is
recommended

A biomechatronic Faruk ISRES Human hand prosthetics, which are devices

application on prosthetics ORTES, publications. to compensate the lost functions of amputed
for undergraduate Hasan Kemal Volume 4, people, was produced benefiting from a
engineering students surmen , Dec 2014 novel technological facility such as 3D
yunus ziya printers. The study includes the proceducers
ARSCAN for undergraduate engineering students to
design was firmly related to technological
improvements
Development of Rifky ismail, Date of added : • the robotic hand is operated using EMG
robotic hand mochammad 23 jan 2017 sensor which reads the muscly activity.
integrated with ariyanto , Publisher:IEEE • The signal from EMG is processed using
simmechanics 3D wahyu DOI: logic control to switch between grip patterns.
animation caesarendra, https://doi.org/ To perform the different grip pattern motions
ahamad 10.1109/ISITI • The integration of robotics hand, EMG
nurmiranto A.2016.78287 sensor, and simmechanics 3D animations for
33
virtual hand has been tested

A synthetic framework Li ziang, yuan J bionic Eng • This paper has established a synthetic
for evaluating and liu, dapeng 15, 69-82 framework containing 12 quantified
designing an yang, hong liu (2018) anthropomorphism evaluation indexes
anthropomorphic Published on considered from the mechanics,
prosthetic hand 20 jan 2018 • he influence of each index to other indexes
DOI : was analyzed by logical relevance analysis
https://doi.org/ and correlation analysis based on the
10.1007/s4223 quantified evaluation results, and then a
5-017-0005-5 design priority of the prosthetic hands was
clarified for designing a highly
anthropomorphic prosthetic hand. The
quantified evaluation results show that the
GAS of current most popular prosthetic hand
was 45.2%, and the DOF configuration,
coupling speed ratio and compliance had the
lowest anthropomorphism among the 12
indexes. According to the correlation analysis
results between eachindex and GAS,
A Biomechatronic Anestis Mablekos- Dated of added :17 dec System control was
Extended Physiological Alexiou, Georgios A. 2015 performed using the
Proprioception (EPP) Bertos, Evangelos Publisher: IEEE models that were
Controller for Upper- Papadopoulos, DOI: developed in
Limb Prostheses https://doi.org/10.1109/I MATLAB/Simulink. The
ROS.2015.735457 purpose of the
comparisons made
through simulations for
the Classic EPP
and the Biomechatronic
EPP, is to evaluate the
proposed
topology both in terms of
transparency and
feasibility.

A bio inspired force A.L.ciancio, R. barone, date of accepted 05 nov This paper proposes the
control for cyclic L.zollo, g. carpino 2015 application and the
manipulation ofprosthetic Publisher: IEEE experimental validation
hands DOI: of bio inspired control on
https://doi.org/10.1109/E a prosthetic hand during
MBC.2015.7319473 tasks of cyclic
manipulation. In order to
assure safety and avoid
problems of damages and
overwork
 The actuation system
 The adoption of bulky and heavy actuators, in the design of
commercial upper limb prosthesis, lead to an extreme reduction of
DOFs.
 Consequently, a stable grasp can be achieved by means of high grip
forces.
 Starting from this viewpoint we are developing an artificial hand
actuated by micro-drives.
 Due to its enhanced mobility our hand will be able to increase the
contact areas between phalanxes and grasped object.
 Following this basic idea we can accept a reduction in power
actuation increasing contact areas in order to augment grip stability.
The actuation system

Fig. : Novel approach loop

INDEX/MIDDLE FINGER DESIGN
 The two prototypes have been designed by
reproducing, as closely as possible, the size and
kinematics of a human finger.
 They consist of three phalanxes and of palm housing,

which is the part of the palm needed to house the

proximal actuator.
INDEX/MIDDLE FINGER DESIGN

Fig. : Index/Middle finger

THUMB DESIGN
 A thumb has been designed in order to complete the
hand prototype and to perform grasping tasks with
thumb opposition.
 The thumb has been designed by simply removing the

distal phalanx from the index/middle finger

THUMB DESIGN

Fig. : Thumb
HAND ASSEMBLING AND FABRICATION

 A first prototype of the hand has been developed

incorporating two fingers and thumb.
 In fact, at least three hard-fingers are necessary to
completely restrain an object.
 The assembling process allows the hand prototype to
perform two grasping tasks. 
1. Cylindrical grasp
2. Tripod pinch grasp
 The hand prototype has been fabricated using the
Fused Deposition Modeling [FDM] process.
HAND ASSEMBLING AND FABRICATION

Fig. 7: Pictures of cylindrical and tripod grasps

HAND ASSEMBLING AND FABRICATION

Fig. 7: Pictures of cylindrical and tripod grasps

FINGERTIP FORCE CHARACTERIZATION

 A first set of experimental tests has been performed in order to evaluate the
force that the index/middle finger is able to exert on an external object.
 To this aim we have measured the force resulting when the finger is
pressing directly on a force sensor corresponding to different configurations
of the joints.
 Two “pressing” tasks were identified in order to evaluate separately and
independently force obtained by the two actuators incorporated in the
finger:

TASK 1: the pushing action was exerted only by the distal actuator.
TASK 2: the pushing action was exerted only by the proximal actuator.
POSITION SENSOR
 Six position sensors, based on Hall-effect sensors
(SS495A, Honeywell, USA), has been integrated in the
hand structure in order to measure the angular position
of the six active joints.
 The main advantages of Hall-effect sensors are their

small size and their contactless working principle,

which allow us to avoid friction forces.
 In the MP joints, the sensor measures a linear

movement of 5.2mm; in the PIP joints, the linear

movement is 8mm.
POSITION SENSOR

(a) Slider for the MP joint. (b) Slider for the DIP joint.

Fig. : Drawings of the two position sensors (the dimensions of

(a) are 12x4x8 mm3, and the dimensions of (b) are 8.7x4x6 mm3).
POSITION SENSOR

Fig. : The first prototype with the 2 integrated sensors.

FUTURE IMPROVEMENTS

 The experimental tests showed promising results, but there

is still room for improvement.
 First of all, natural fingers movements during grasping
activities will be further investigated in order to achieve a
truly “human-like” behavior of the artificial finger.
 The force sensor measurements will be further investigated
in order to sense incipient slippage and to obtain force
sensing abilities.
 Finally, suitable control strategies will be investigated and
applied in order to develop a natural control of the
wearable hand.
 CONCLUSION
 It is based on integrating together multiple degrees of
freedom, multi-sensing capabilities, and distributed control in
order to obtain “elegant” human-like appearance, simple and
direct controllability, low weight, low energy consumption
and noiselessness.
 Following this type of approach a firsthand prototype with six
DOFs has been designed and fabricated.
 In this paper we focused our attention on the design and
development of a first implementation of an innovative hand,
and in particular on the biomechatronic approach and on the
integration of the position and force sensors. 
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Thank you