Design of Prosthetic Finger Using Topology Optimization

Abstract

A prosthetic finger is designed for a prosthetic hand in an amputated arm. A robotic prosthetic hand gives ability to artificially control moments of the arm. New concepts of bionic hands are being developed for mimicking the natural human hand. The pace of improving the bionic technology, it is expected for importance will increase the demand and use of bionic hands. In this paper, a concept of new design of fingers, which acts as compliant for prosthetic applications, are proposed. The concept of human hand replicated to the modern bionic hands are made using topology optimization tool based on geometry of structure. The finite element analysis (FEA) is done using ANSYS workbench tool. Circular and rectangular primitives are selected for static structural analysis with the help of FEA. Deformation and equivalent stresses are obtained from FEA model. Based on FEA output, monolithic structure of prosthetic hand are generated using topology optimization.