With the advancement of technology, many prosthesis were developed to improve the life standard of a person who lost one or more limb. One of the most common limb loss is finger lose. Many finger prosthesis were developed to imitate the functionality of natural human fingers. But most of them are not personalised (does not fit perfectly to the user) and/or not easy to apply. Some finger prosthesis needs surgical operation to apply. The aim of this study is to design and manufacture accessible and sustainable finger prosthesis that is easy to apply and personalised.
In this study, hand skeleton structure was modelled from computerized tomography images. Distal and middle phalanx bones were removed to show finger loss. Personalised finger prosthesis that fits perfectly to the user was designed on the hand skeleton structure. By using kinematic analysis, finger prosthesis movement capabilities are determined and general mathematic model was developed to be used in other patients. Before production, newly designed finger prosthesis movement was analysed and model was optimised with the result of the analysis.
Finally, the gripping ability of the prosthesis that was produced and its similarity to the natural finger mechanical structure were confirmed by experiments and measurements.