Underactuated Finger Design: A Minimalistic Approach Toward Biomimetic Prosthetic Finger
Dexterous prosthetic hands with a simple design are the need of the hour. The limiting factor for prosthetic hands is the structure, functionality, and control of the fingers and the thumb. Traditionally, robotic fingers used in prosthetic hands are tendon-driven or have linkage-based mechanisms. Wh...
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IEEE
2025-01-01
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| author | Vignesh Sompur Varadhan Skm Asokan Thondiyath |
| author_facet | Vignesh Sompur Varadhan Skm Asokan Thondiyath |
| author_sort | Vignesh Sompur |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Dexterous prosthetic hands with a simple design are the need of the hour. The limiting factor for prosthetic hands is the structure, functionality, and control of the fingers and the thumb. Traditionally, robotic fingers used in prosthetic hands are tendon-driven or have linkage-based mechanisms. While tendon-driven mechanisms provide anthropomorphic behaviour, they lack sufficient grip force. In contrast, linkage mechanisms develop sufficient grip force but at the expense of the size and weight of the overall design. Further, a linkage-based mechanism provides only shape adaptation without joint coupling. To address this gap in prosthetic finger design, we propose a novel underactuated, hybrid, and minimalistic finger mechanism to achieve simultaneous coupling and self-adaptation. The designed finger mechanism has three degrees of freedom provided by two 4-bar mechanisms in series, with two degrees of actuation. The finger is actuated through a pair of inelastic tendons acting on two joints. The tendon architecture is bio-inspired and improves the finger mechanism’s anthropomorphic behaviour. A detailed kinematic and static analysis is provided to describe the finger design’s operating principle and construction. Simulations of fingertip trajectory and contact forces are also performed. Additionally, a prototype of the mechanism was 3D printed to validate the design of the finger. Grasping simulations and experiments were also performed for a typical 4-bar-based finger mechanism. The results show improved anthropomorphic motion and increased contact forces for the current finger design compared to the conventional 4-bar mechanism-based prosthetic finger. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-061fb4b84a63433a8b1eafcd89926cf1 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2169-3536 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | IEEE |
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| spelling | doaj-art-061fb4b84a63433a8b1eafcd89926cf12025-08-20T03:24:56ZengIEEEIEEE Access2169-35362025-01-0113965179653410.1109/ACCESS.2025.357224111008577Underactuated Finger Design: A Minimalistic Approach Toward Biomimetic Prosthetic FingerVignesh Sompur0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0833-4537Varadhan Skm1https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5746-2340Asokan Thondiyath2https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5474-3999Department of Engineering Design, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai, IndiaDepartment of Applied Mechanics and Biomedical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai, IndiaDepartment of Engineering Design, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai, IndiaDexterous prosthetic hands with a simple design are the need of the hour. The limiting factor for prosthetic hands is the structure, functionality, and control of the fingers and the thumb. Traditionally, robotic fingers used in prosthetic hands are tendon-driven or have linkage-based mechanisms. While tendon-driven mechanisms provide anthropomorphic behaviour, they lack sufficient grip force. In contrast, linkage mechanisms develop sufficient grip force but at the expense of the size and weight of the overall design. Further, a linkage-based mechanism provides only shape adaptation without joint coupling. To address this gap in prosthetic finger design, we propose a novel underactuated, hybrid, and minimalistic finger mechanism to achieve simultaneous coupling and self-adaptation. The designed finger mechanism has three degrees of freedom provided by two 4-bar mechanisms in series, with two degrees of actuation. The finger is actuated through a pair of inelastic tendons acting on two joints. The tendon architecture is bio-inspired and improves the finger mechanism’s anthropomorphic behaviour. A detailed kinematic and static analysis is provided to describe the finger design’s operating principle and construction. Simulations of fingertip trajectory and contact forces are also performed. Additionally, a prototype of the mechanism was 3D printed to validate the design of the finger. Grasping simulations and experiments were also performed for a typical 4-bar-based finger mechanism. The results show improved anthropomorphic motion and increased contact forces for the current finger design compared to the conventional 4-bar mechanism-based prosthetic finger.https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/11008577/Biomimetic designfinger anthropomorphic indexmechanism synthesisprosthetic finger designunderactuation |
| spellingShingle | Vignesh Sompur Varadhan Skm Asokan Thondiyath Underactuated Finger Design: A Minimalistic Approach Toward Biomimetic Prosthetic Finger IEEE Access Biomimetic design finger anthropomorphic index mechanism synthesis prosthetic finger design underactuation |
| title | Underactuated Finger Design: A Minimalistic Approach Toward Biomimetic Prosthetic Finger |
| title_full | Underactuated Finger Design: A Minimalistic Approach Toward Biomimetic Prosthetic Finger |
| title_fullStr | Underactuated Finger Design: A Minimalistic Approach Toward Biomimetic Prosthetic Finger |
| title_full_unstemmed | Underactuated Finger Design: A Minimalistic Approach Toward Biomimetic Prosthetic Finger |
| title_short | Underactuated Finger Design: A Minimalistic Approach Toward Biomimetic Prosthetic Finger |
| title_sort | underactuated finger design a minimalistic approach toward biomimetic prosthetic finger |
| topic | Biomimetic design finger anthropomorphic index mechanism synthesis prosthetic finger design underactuation |
| url | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/11008577/ |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT vigneshsompur underactuatedfingerdesignaminimalisticapproachtowardbiomimeticprostheticfinger AT varadhanskm underactuatedfingerdesignaminimalisticapproachtowardbiomimeticprostheticfinger AT asokanthondiyath underactuatedfingerdesignaminimalisticapproachtowardbiomimeticprostheticfinger |