Task-oriented design of a multi-degree of freedom upper limb prosthesis
with integrated myocontrol and sensory feedback
Abstract
Despite the progresses in upper limb prosthetic technologies of the past
decades, there is still a large gap between the user needs and the
available devices. Here, we describe the design and validation of a
fully integrated, multi-degree of freedom upper limb prosthetic system
designed on the basis of user survey studies. The system has five
degrees of freedom, sufficient grasping/pinching force achieved by a
combination of direct and underactuated activation to perform activities
of daily living, an active wrist, a closed-loop tactile biofeedback
system, and simultaneous/proportional myoelectric control. The
aforementioned components have been successfully integrated into a
standalone prosthetic system. The system has been tested for its
capacity to reproduce the human grasp when applied to objects common in
daily living. Moreover, we tested the system in standardized clinical
tests that showed a reduction of shoulder and trunk compensatory
movements with respect to a state-of- the-art commercial prosthesis.