Optimal design of three-phalanx prosthesis underactuated fingers using Genetic Algorithm

Abstract EN

This research is interested to investigate the optimum design procedure for a finger driving mechanism to have a proper configuration of the finger for its utilization in hand prosthesis.

To get this goal, a Genetic Algorithm (G.A) was used.

Three criteria were selected to find the optimal solution.

The most important of them was the percentage of the grasping stability.

This criterion was evaluated as must type by using Kepner-tregos method.

When the optimal solution was found, this one was modified to facilitate the fabrication of a prototype.

The modifications consist of mostly rounding the parameters and unfirming the rollers dimensions.

Those changes did not affect too much the forces characteristics.

The prosthetic hand prototype was built of hard ABS (Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene) plastic using rapid prototyping.

Testing results indicate that the proposed Genetic Algorithm gives reasonable -quality results in short computation time.