Modeling and Simulation of Finger Prosthetic for Patients with Partial Amputation

The number of amputees is increasing globally due to various accidents or diseases such as diabetes. Among them, there are many patients with upper limb amputations, especially those with hand or finger amputations. As a result, it is highly possible that many people need prosthetic limbs. Most of the prosthetic limbs currently commercialized are products that implement only models without function. Additionally, prosthetic limbs, which have been actively studied in recent years, have many sensors and actuators, providing excellent capabilities inperforming various tasks. However, it is difficult for partial amputees such as finger amputations to use because it targets the entire hand under the wrist. Thus, we propose to develop a wearable finger that can be used by patients with partially amputated fingers. This paper designs the structure of the wearable finger prosthesis and performs the dynamic modeling of the linkage used in the structure. Also, simulation using RecurDyn software is conducted to estimate motion and contact force.