Compliant Mechanism for Wearable Prosthesis

3D Printing, Design and Fabrication for Assistive Technology

Wearable prosthetics such as Exoskeleton often use multiple joints that require complex assembly and can have extra frictions during movement, especially when it’s 3d printed.
‍
This compliant glove is made of multiple parts joined using Flextures. The flexures are specially designed to have curves so that it has enough DoF for performing hand motion while being compliant and reducing frictions during movement.

Method: A Computational Design Tool for Compliant Mechanisms
The flexure design achieves over 350 degrees of freedom on the y-axis. It was then actuated using a tendon (fishline) attached to the glove, which augments the hand movements  when being pulled. When released, the flexure goes back to its original state.
‍
05435-Fabrication in HCI taught by Prof. Alexandra Ion