Final Project Journal

The Idea is to make a robot arm with moving fingers simulating hand grasp.

I was inspired by many of the open-source prosthetic projects for people who lost their hands. as a physical therapist I was interested in these projects and wanted to be part of this community.

For every part of the finger:

• Draw a cylinder.

• Use Split body function to make it 2 halves.

• use chamfer tool on one half then make a plane on the chamfered part.

• Use split body function to extend the chamfer like a clean cut.

For the tip of the finger, I added a sphere on top and used chamfer on the lower end only.

for the other parts I used chamfer on both ends and made them longer than the tip.

for the thumb I used only 2 parts.

I made one finger and then copied it 5 times.

For the palm:

I Choose to make it a frame instead of a box to not use too much material. I Drew a rectangle that is taped down and then used the offset function to add a frame to it.

I extruded the frame then cut the lower part of the fingers and duplicated 5 times and used it as a base for the fingers to move.

I used the hole function to make a path for the wires.

For The base:

I drew a simple box.

First the Top of the base as rectangle and then copied it to make the bot.

Marked the holes and drew them on the top and bot.

Drew one side of the box and copied it.

Drew the Other side and copied it.

For Laser Cutter: 

• set the parameter to Cut: Speed/ 30, Power/ 50.

• Downloaded the file to the machine. 

• Selected the file.

•  Determined the origin point. 

• set the focus.

• Closed the led and after 40 Sec. It was done.

For the 3D printer:

• the parameters were infill:15, Layer hight: 0.2, With Support.

• It took 51g. 

•  First loaded the file on an SD Card

• loaded it on the Prusa mk24. 

• Selected the file, 

• waited for the bed and nozzle to reach optimal temp. 

• It took about 6 hours to be done.

We use Arduino Uno as the Brain.

The Inputs comes from Arduino blue control relayed by Bluetooth module.

The output comes from 3 servo motors. one of them will move the thumb. the others will move 2 fingers each.

The Servos are connected parallel so that each one will get the full current with the signal pins in 9.10.11.

The Arduino will have the same power supply as the servos and common ground in the Breadboard.

The Bluetooth module will be connected to the Breadboard with the R bin connect to the T pin and vice versa on the Arduino.

We Use 6V Power Adapter because Arduino only supply 5V with little amp power and to adequately supply the servo motors we need 6V and more Amp power than the Arduino.

We don't use the USB to power the Arduino in this case. We use the adapter to power it via connecting to the vin pin on the Arduino

1. first, I had to wire every finger wit hard wire in the front and elastic wires on the back.

2. then connect each finger to the palm.

3. I tied the elastic wire to the frame.

4. attached the servos to the palm.

5. attached the wires to the servo motors.

6. attached the palm to the top of the base.

7. assembled the rest of the base.

8. put the component in place.

9. attached the top with the hand to the base.

10. connected the Arduino to the lap and downloaded the code.

11. connected the Bluetooth module.

12. Connetcted the power supply.

13. Tested it and it worked.

I would turn to Asmaa and Menna. Asmaa suggested modifying the centre piece to better fit together. 

I would add an arm extension as a unit to hold the Arduino, add wrist rotation and single finger control.