Various upper-limb prostheses have been designed for 3D printing but only a few of them are based on bio-inspired design principles and many anatomical details are not typically incorporated even though 3D printing offers advantages that facilitate the application of such design principles. We therefore aimed to apply a bio-inspired approach to the design and fabrication of articulated fingers for a new type of 3D printed hand prosthesis that is body-powered and complies with basic user requirements. We first studied the biological structure of human fingers and their movement control mechanisms in order to devise the transmission and actuation system. A number of working principles were established and various simplifications were made to fabricate the hand prosthesis using a fused deposition modelling (FDM) 3D printer with dual material extrusion. We then evaluated the mechanical performance of the prosthetic device by measuring its ability to exert pinch forces and the energy dissipated during each operational cycle. We fabricated our prototypes using three polymeric materials including PLA, TPU, and Nylon. The total weight of the prosthesis was 92 g with a total material cost of 12 US dollars. The energy dissipated during each cycle was 0.380 Nm with a pinch force of ≈16 N corresponding to an input force of 100 N. The hand is actuated by a conventional pulling cable used in BP prostheses. It is connected to a shoulder strap at one end and to the coupling of the whiffle tree mechanism at the other end. The whiffle tree mechanism distributes the force to the four tendons, which bend all fingers simultaneously when pulled. The design described in this manuscript demonstrates several bio-inspired design features and is capable of performing different grasping patterns due to the adaptive grasping provided by the articulated fingers. The pinch force obtained is superior to other fully 3D printed body-powered hand prostheses, but still below that of conventional body powered hand prostheses. We present a 3D printed bio-inspired prosthetic hand that is body-powered and includes all of the following characteristics: adaptive grasping, articulated fingers, and minimized post-printing assembly. Additionally, the low cost and low weight make this prosthetic hand a worthy option mainly in locations where state-of-the-art prosthetic workshops are absent.

已经为 3D 打印设计了各种上肢假肢，但其中只有少数是基于仿生设计原则的，并且通常不会包含许多解剖细节，即使 3D 打印提供了促进此类设计原则应用的优势。因此，我们的目标是将仿生方法应用于设计和制造铰接手指的新型 3D 打印手部假肢，该假肢由身体驱动并符合基本用户要求。我们首先研究了人类手指的生物结构及其运动控制机制，以设计传动和驱动系统。建立了许多工作原理并进行了各种简化，以使用具有双材料挤出的熔融沉积建模 (FDM) 3D 打印机来制造假手。然后，我们通过测量其施加挤压力的能力和每个操作周期中耗散的能量来评估假肢装置的机械性能。我们使用三种聚合物材料（包括 PLA、TPU 和尼龙）制造了我们的原型。假体的总重量为 92 克，总材料成本为 12 美元。每个循环期间耗散的能量为 0.380 Nm，捏力约为 16 N，对应于 100 N 的输入力。手由 BP 假肢中使用的传统拉线驱动。它的一端连接到肩带，另一端连接到whiffle tree装置的耦合。whiffle 树机制将力分配到四个肌腱，当拉动时，这些肌腱同时弯曲所有手指。本手稿中描述的设计展示了几个仿生设计特征，并且由于关节手指提供的自适应抓握，能够执行不同的抓握模式。获得的捏力优于其他完全 3D 打印的人体动力手部假肢，但仍低于传统的人体动力手部假肢。我们展示了一种 3D 打印的仿生假手，它是由身体驱动的，包括以下所有特征：自适应抓握、关节式手指和最小化的打印后组装。此外，