Male students create cheap robotic hands for people with disabilities

Using a microprocessor board and a combination of pressure sensor, Quang Ngai male students make cheap robotic hands for people who lose money.

Ngo Van Diem (23 years old), a student of the Faculty of Technology and Technology, Pham Van Dong University (Quang Ngai) has just won the Second Prize of the Scientific Research Student Contest with the invention. .

Ngo Van Diem and a robot hand product for people with disabilities.(Photo: Thach Thao).

Using 3D printed plastic as an arm and hand frame, controlled by arduino microprocessor circuit board and servo motor combined with pressure sensor, Dia creates robot hand with cost of only 3 million, many times lower Compared with products in the world, there are tens of thousands of dollars for sale.

According to Diem, Vietnam now has hundreds of thousands of wounded soldiers and victims of traffic accidents who have lost their livelihoods. Most of them are low-income, unable to access foreign supported hand products. Therefore, he tinkered, studying the transmission methods for prosthetic arms to make low-cost products with comparable quality.

Interpreting the arms and hands, the student said he used 3D scanning technology to copy samples to scan his left hand as a database to design the right hand.

After capturing the hand image, the thumb will be separated to redesign to fit the opening and closing functions, the fingers will be divided into two segments, then reassembled to form movements. The palm will have 5 joints to connect with 5 fingers.

The robot hand is fitted with a microchip and internal servo motor.(Photo: Thach Thao).

Die said that the most elaborate part of the frame is the sleeve. This is the part that connects the robot hand to the other arm of the disabled so it requires high accuracy, depending on each person, the design is big or small, long or short.

After printing 3D frame with 3D printed plastic material, male students assemble the microprocessor board and servo motor inside.

Pressure sensors are fitted into the biceps of people with disabilities. When a person with a disability applies force to the sensor, the signal is transmitted to the microchip and the motor pulls the cord so that the fingers are closed. Depending on the small size of the object, the user has the right force to hold it.

"In order for the hand to simulate the grip and stretching movements, I use elastic plastic pegs to connect the knuckles to my hands," he said, adding that users can easily charge. battery for product use.

Male students confided, the process of making robotic hands took 8 months, initially he encountered many obstacles when using mechanical sensors because the fingers could not hold the object as desired.

The process of removing and re-installing and testing the first robot hand that consumes the student 6 million VND in pocket. At the second hand, when the technical process was smooth, the cost was only 3 million VND.

He tested the robot hand with Mr. Minh.(Photo: Thach Thao).

Mr. Tran Tan Minh, from Nghia Dien commune, Huyen Tu Nghia, who tested Diem's ​​product, had a right hand disability. He shared, many things need to use two hands, they can not do it themselves, but they have to support their family members."Trying out Die's hand, I can handle some things easily," he said happily.

Mr. Pham Truong Tung, a lecturer at Pham Van Dong University, who guides Die's research and evaluation topic, is an idea of ​​high humanity. Although it is not a new product, it is still developing and improving in the future.