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, Controls, and Air Muscles 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. Jonathan Kasper / Project ManagerMatthew Lewis / Design LeadMark McKann / Controls Team Jenna Fike / Lead EngineerJosa Hanzlik / Air Muscle TeamNick Rappa / Controls Team Dr. Kathleen Lamkin-Kennard / AdvisorEllen Cretekos / Air Muscle TeamEric Giang / Controls Team Project #: P08023 Design/Build Team : responsible for configuring and producing a robotic hand that was capable of the requisite hand motions; this included the production of: Controls Team : in charge of implementing control mechanisms and algorithms for management of the solenoid valves that were used to manipulate air flow Air Muscle Team : focused on the development and implementation of air muscles for the project: o Determined the method for constructing reproducible muscles o Evaluated optimal sizes and materials o Characterized the bladders so that they were capable of consistently producing the necessary forces o CAD drawings o Prototypes o Final functioning hand Artificial Limb CAD Design Finger CAD Design Read configuration file to determine relative potentiometer range Wait for User’s Command Call AB/AD module Determine current % flexion Finger Abducts or Adducts Cycle extension valve once Cycle flexion valve once Finger Flexes by Instructed Percentage = Ab/Adduction Instruction = n% Flexion Instruction = Too Flexed = Too Extended = Absolute Direction LabVIEWRelay Board Valves DAQ Air Muscles Potentiometer Feedback System Architecture Portable Air Compressor Logic Diagram of Finger Actuation Control Push-to-connect Mesh Material: PET Inside Tubing: Rubber Eye-Hook Air Muscle Displacement Based on Pressure and Length 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, Mr. Steven Kosciol, and Mr. Jonathan Niebielski Special Thanks to RIT New Faculty Development Grant for Funding o 3 Fingers capable of the 4 DOF: Flexion/Extension & Abduction/Adduction o Control Feedback obtained via Linear Potentiometers o Forces produced by 9 Air Muscles with the following lengths: o [3] Abduction & [3] Adduction – 2.5 in o [3] Flexion – 7 in o Ease of air muscle serviceability o User-Friendly LabVIEW Interface o Addition of pinky, thumb, and wrist motion o Grasping capabilities and tactile feedback o Simultaneous flexion of varying degrees o Air muscles with increased life expectancy o Improvements in maintenance and assembly Final Limb