Design of a prosthetic hand with remote actuation.

One of the main issues of prosthetic hands is to be able to fulfill all the specifications about speed, torque, weight and inertia while placing all the components within the prosthetic hand. This is especially true when full dexterity is required in the prosthesis. In this paper, a new design for a prosthetic hand is presented, which uses remote actuation in order to satisfy most of those requirements. The actuators are to be located in the back of the subject and the transmission is implemented via cables. Other characteristics of this new prosthetic hand include torque limitation and the possibility of switching between underactuated and fully actuated functions.