Design of Novel Human Wrist Prostheses Based on Parallel Architectures: Dimensional Synthesis and Kinetostatics

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Engineering
• Robotics
• Biomechanics

Background:

• Human wrist mobility is crucial for manipulation, yet upper-limb prostheses often neglect it, forcing users to adapt.
• Existing wrist prostheses and parallel mechanisms offer limited solutions, leaving room for innovation in mechatronic wrist design.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the unexplored potential of parallel mechanisms in designing advanced wrist prostheses.
• To develop novel mechatronic wrist architectures that enhance manipulation capabilities for users.

Main Methods:

• Literature review of human wrist biomechanics, existing wrist prostheses, and parallel mechanisms.
• Selection of suitable parallel architectures for wrist prosthesis application.
• Dimensional synthesis and kinetostatic analysis of selected parallel architectures.

Main Results:

• Identification and selection of promising parallel architectures for wrist prosthesis development.
• Detailed kinetostatic performance analysis of the proposed mechatronic wrist concepts.
• Presentation of new wrist prosthesis architectures.

Conclusions:

• Parallel mechanisms offer a viable and underexplored approach for advanced wrist prosthesis design.
• The presented architectures and analyses represent a foundational step towards developing improved mechatronic wrists.
• Further research is warranted to translate these concepts into functional prosthetic devices.