A 3D printed soft prosthetic hand with embedded actuation and soft sensing capabilities for directly and seamlessly switching between various hand gestures

In this study, a 3D printed soft robotic hand with embedded soft sensors is designed and developed to efficiently operate with new-generation myoelectric control systems, e.g., pattern recognition control (PRC) and simultaneous proportional control (SPC). The whole hand (ACES-V2) is fabricated as a monolithic structure using a low-cost and open-source 3D printer and it requires minimal post-processing for the addition of its embedded sensors. These are significant benefits for a medical device that is required to be lightweight and anthropomorphic. With the addition of position sensors, the avoidance of self-collision is obtained without returning the prosthetic hand to its neutral fully-opening position when it is commanded to switch between different gestures. This can make the transition between the hand gestures much faster, more efficient, and more intuitive as well. Further, initial contact detection of each finger is achieved for preshaping of multi-finger grasps, e.g., tripod grip and power grasps, to improve the stability of the grasps consequently.