We are the group that created the bionic hand For our senior project and Our team consists of Sabrina Knuckles Mark Morrison and Christopher Villarreal.

Our idea for the arm is a 3D printed model of a prosthetic arm for amputees. The reason we chose this for our senior project is because we realized that for amputees there aren’t many options out there for prosthetic arms.We know that for amputees missing an arm can make life challenging and difficult.We are trying to give amputees a cheaper, more economic option when it comes to a prosthetic arm. There are options on the market that are mechanical but they are expensive and not everybody can afford it even with their medical insurance. With our design we are hoping that it can create a new opportunity for many people that are looking for this type of product. This bionic arm will be able to give amputees more limited abilities to do things with an extra arm that a standard non mechanical prosthetic limb.Our design that we came up with consisted of using EMG patches to read muscle signals and therefore be able to control the arm. The signals from the arm will be read and coded into the arduino which will be relaying information to the bionic arm to move the corresponding parts. With this arm we also incorporate a temperature sensor into the arm so the person will be able to know if something that they're touching is potentially hot. This product will be very helpful to anyone who is looking to buy a prosthetic arm that is more cost friendly.

This is a short demonstration Of our robotic arm going through the motions  of some of the fingers and showing its capabilities. It starts with the closed Fist and works each finger skipping the middle finger for  appropriate reasons. The video is a close-up Shot to show the extension and reach of the fingers with more clarity due to the pla filament being slightly darker and harder to capture on camera. The ring finger and the pinky finger are both able to close in slightly more to give a Better grip as well as a more natural look when the first is fully closed.

Throughout the timeline of  this project we've encountered many problems. These problems occured in the prep phase as well as our building phase. Due to the covid-19 pandemic our prep phase had many unexpected delays, parts that we've ordered took longer than  anticipated.  We have received a couple of defective motors and to order new ones delayed our project and testing even more.  The majority of the  problems and setbacks came during our building process. Our 3D printed models weren't precisely the way they were designed on the computer.Some of the prints would fail  or they would be slightly bigger or smaller due to them being printed.  the quality of the prints where due to the 3D printer that we used and could possibly be improved and be more precise with a more expensive 3-D printer.With these size differences in our prints, we came across many fitment issues and a lot of sanding, filing and custom fabrication were needed  to be able to make the parts fit together. the designs on the computer were right and that they would fit together but when implemented as 3D prints they were always slightly off due to the capabilities of the printer. also during the printing phases we came across many failed  prints which were then pushed our timeline further and further back with each  failed  prints.  Our printing of the parts took approximately 72 hours in total, this number is if all of our prints came out perfectly the first time. This gives you an idea of how long just the printing process is even for parts that aren’t that big.During our construction we had parts that would snap and therefore have us reprint our designs with a different density infill for our robotic hand. We would increase the density on the parts to make them stronger and more resistant to breaking but it would mean it would take the parts longer to print and also use more filament. We tried to only strengthen the parts that were under the most stress to have it still be our goal of making it as cost efficient as possible. technological problems that we ran into were with the coding of the EMG patches. The patches sometimes didn't quite always pick up the right signal consistency and when reapplied would give slightly different results. Another problem was with the motors and that the power supply used wasn't always enough.   We went through many  phases to get the right necessary current and voltage needed to be able to operate the fingers individually and all together.  After many test runs we would shortly drain our  power supply and have to charge or get another to be able to keep testing. 

This project has taught us many lessons as a group,  we learned that designs aren't always perfect when being implemented. This means that no matter how much planning can go into it, the results will always be a factor of two things: you'r design and the Hardware that you have at your disposal. The second thing is that teamwork is very crucial and important when working on larger projects, multiple heads are better than one that can often solve problems more quickly and effectively. The pandemic made it hard for our group to get together at times but being able to speak remotely through apps like zoom made problem solving and planning slightly easier. The third one is persistence is key during this project many things have not gone according to planned and have had many delays due to the pandemic,but with perseverance we were able to pull through and get the project operational. for the future of this product project we would like to incorporate  our initial designs and have it fully functioning the way our original view was. With many product delays, design errors and time limit restrictions the temperature sensor wasn't able to be implemented and it was something that could be very beneficial and set our project apart from others that are already available.  The second thing to change for the future is the EMG patches after many  errors with it, we would like to find a more accurate type of patch or sensor that can give consistent results and be able to be used universally on different people.  The  Bionic arm is still a very  promising product but with the future implementations I feel that it  will be even better.