Air Muscle Artificial Limb Project #: P08023 Air Muscle Artificial Limb Jonathan Kasper / Project Manager Matthew Lewis / Design Lead Mark McKann / Controls Team Jenna Fike / Lead Engineer Josa Hanzlik / Air Muscle Team Nick Rappa / Controls Team Dr. Kathleen Lamkin-Kennard / Advisor Ellen Cretekos / Air Muscle Team Eric Giang / Controls Team Abstract The primary goal of the Air Muscle Artificial Limb project is to design, build, and control a robotic hand with realistic finger motions; all gesticulations are made possible via forces produced by pneumatic muscles. Dr. Kathleen Lamkin-Kennard, of the Bio-Mechanical Engineering Dept. at RIT, facilitated the project with specific product requirements and team guidance. In order to achieve the project objective, a team of engineers was divided into Design/Build, Air Muscles and Controls sub-teams. During the initial stage of the project, three fingers were prototyped, control algorithms were created, and air muscles were characterized in order to produce a consistently and accurately controlled hand. The final product is an aluminum hand with index, middle, and ring phalanges that are capable of achieving four degrees of freedom (DOF): flexion, extension, abduction, and adduction. Project Overview Potentiometer DAQ Feedback LabVIEW Relay Board Portable Air Compressor Valves Air Muscles Finger CAD Design Artificial Limb CAD Design System Architecture Controls Team : in charge of implementing control mechanisms and algorithms for management of the solenoid valves that were used to manipulate air flow Design/Build Team : responsible for configuring and producing a robotic hand that was capable of the requisite hand motions; this included the production of: CAD drawings Prototypes Final functioning hand. Read configuration file to determine relative potentiometer range = Ab/Adduction Instruction = n% Flexion Instruction = Too Flexed = Too Extended = Absolute Direction Air Muscle Team : focused on the development and implementation of air muscles for the project. Wait for User’s Command Determined the method for constructing reproducible muscles Evaluated optimal sizes and materials Characterized the bladders so that they were capable of consistently producing the necessary forces Call AB/AD module Determine current % flexion Push-to-connect Eye-Hook Finger Abducts or Adducts Cycle extension valve once Cycle flexion valve once Inside Tubing: Rubber Finger Flexes by Instructed Percentage Mesh Material: PET Air Muscle Displacement Based on Pressure and Length Logic Diagram of Finger Actuation Control Results/Conclusion Future Work 3 Fingers capable of the 4 DOF: Flexion/Extension & Abduction/Adduction Control Feedback obtained via Linear Potentiometers Forces produced by 9 Air Muscles with the following lengths: [3] Abduction & [3] Adduction – 2.5 in [2] Flexion (Index and Ring Fingers) – 7 in [1] Flexion (Middle Fingers) – 6 in Ease of air muscle serviceability Addition of pinky, thumb, and wrist motion Grasping capabilities and tactile feedback Simultaneous flexion of varying degrees Air muscles with increased life expectancy Improvements in maintenance and assembly Final Limb Acknowledgements Special thanks to Dr. Kathleen Lamkin-Kennard, Mr. John Wellin, Mr. Scott Kennard, Dr. Steven Day, Dr. Matthew Marshall, Mr. William Scarbrough, Mr. Edward Hanzlik, Mr. David Hathaway, Dr. Mark Kempski, Mr. Robert Kraynik, and Mr. Jonathan Niebielski