Improving Grasping of Bionic Hand by Using Finger Compliance Design and Rapid Prototyping

The purpose of the research work outlined in this paper is to use engineering design to improve the grasping capability of a robotic hand with six degrees-of-freedom within a restricted budget. The work presented in this paper is the result of a capstone project work with a group of students at School of Engineering Practice and Technology at McMaster University, Ontario. This paper aims to demonstrate that dexterity of such a hand improves when a compliance side motion is added to the robotic hand at each knuckle joint, in order to replicate the abduction/adduction motion of the four fingers. This proposed design can improve the grasping capability of the bionic hand, without adding more degrees-of-freedom or by increasing the complexity of the operating controller. By means of CAD software applications and 3D printing technologies, this method helps students bring to life their novel ideas. It can also help students study the grasping capabilities of a robotic hand through remote control by a mobile device or over an Internet connection.