ASA 2021 ONLINE STEAM EXPO

PROJECT SUMMARY

The question I had for my project was ""how complicated would it be to make a prosthetic hand with materials found at a normal home?""

First I found a list of materials that could work for the hand, which consist of straws, thread and cardboard, in this case the straws functioned like the skin and the bones of the hand, the cardboard served the same purpose, because the straw would work as the fingers, after the thread would work as a hand´s tendons, which working with the straws and the cardboard would reflect the hand's movements

WHY?

I did this project because I was looking at a list of possible projects, and doing this seemed like something new and interesting. And with this project I was able to test out what ordinary materials could work to be more complex that I would´ve expected.

HOW?

The first step to creating the project was getting the list of materials. After that you would need to cut the straws according to the dimensions of your hand, then you´d need to make cuts where the fingers would fold. Then you need to glue the fingers according to the direction they are supposed to be in. Then you need to make the thread go through each of the ""fingers"", then tie the string around the straw and glue the top so it doesnt untie itself.

and then wait for the glue to be completely dry. Once all of that is done you can tie the end of the string to a ring, which would make pulling the threads easier.

WHAT?

First I found out that every cut has to be as aligned as possible, because if it isnt aligned the finger will fold to the side. Then you have to make sure that the thread is flexible, because if it isnt then its going to be harder to pull the thread. It is very interesting to see how when you stretch it it makes the movement of a hand, even though it doesnt have the same strength.

SO WHAT?

These results are interesting because it actually works. But I think it would actually be a great success if there was a way to make the prototype work as natural as a normal hand. By which I mean to not make it work using the hand but to make it work like a normal hand, making it receive commands.

WHAT'S NEXT?

Something I would have liked to improved with my project would have been to improve the hand´s quality, and to allign the rings better so the movements would be more accurate. Then another improvement would have been to find a way to make it as accurate while getting rid of the rings completely.

REFERENCES/ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I got the idea from the hand out of this website https://www.weareteachers.com/7th-grade-science-projects/

And my parents helped me by getting the materials needed.

JUDGES FEEDBACK

I would have never thought using the materials you had at home to work on a prosthetic hand. I am sure this project gave you an idea how complicated is the human hand and arm. From here, you could develop your idea further. For example Tinkercad can help you think further on a 3D design that can later on be develop. Thanks for submitting this interesting project!

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