SCOMA hand prosthetic

Abstract

SCOMA Prosthetic Hand is a robotic hand that can give to the patient the ability to resume a good part of their daily activities. It is not only designed to resume daily activities, but also to improve the mental health of the patient. Worldwide, each year the number of amputees increases from 150,000 to 200,000 in which 30% of these amputees have suffered an upper limb amputation but only between 27% and 44% of them use arm prostheses. There are many reasons behind this, but some aspects to consider about existing prostheses are: uncomfortable, very expensive, have a robotic appearance, or need invasive procedures to fit patients. In our proposal we used the mechatronic design methodology and the data from the Amputee Coalition to create a new hand prosthesis. We analyzed it through different studies such as SWOT diagrams, quality matrix, goal tree and pairwise comparison matrix and simulation tests. In addition, we tested a 3D printing to find a suitable design and the most assertive components. By building the robotic hand with cheaper, more common components and limited functions, we can offer to the patients a comfortable prosthesis and a new more realistic option than those offer on the market. This prosthesis have limited functions but can be accessible to many people and the design could be improved in the future easily.