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Purpose
Statistics reveals that there is a high prevalence of the population with hand impairments around the world. Approximately 541,000 Americans suffered from upper limb loss in 2005, and this number is expected to be doubled by 2050. According to this predication, American upper limb loss statistics would surpass a million within millennial’s lifetime [1]. We do not even need to look far to find the effects of these impairments. Meet Dr. Nicole Hutton Shannon (right).
Nicole is a geography professor here at Old Dominion University who was born without her left hand due to a birth defect involving complications with her umbilical cord. While this condition is rare, other diseases such as diabetes and peripheral arterial diseases are responsible for over 54% of Americans living with a limb loss [2].
Dr. Nicole Hutton, Ph.D.
Nicole has dealt with many different prosthetics in her lifetime for aesthetic purpose as well as some function. Often times people who have lost an upper limb choose not to wear a prosthetic limb at all, passive or robotic. This is due to several complaints about conventional prosthetic hands saying that they are heavy, have low functionality, and create unnatural movement [3]. For a while, Nicole used an electric hand that could open and close by twisting her arm, but it eventually became too heavy and restrictive. As we look to our design, she stressed the importance of weight and individuality as well as durability, so she does not have to worry about breaking it. In the state-of-the-art, there exist no single prosthetic device that fulfills all desired functional tasks, requiring a person to use different devices to perform different tasks [4]. With studies out involving pressured sensors and nerve control, we believe there are better solutions out there. We want to build customized robotic hands for people like Nicole that can perform all functions necessary for activities of daily living while maintaining its cosmetic appeal and reduced weight.
References
[1] Ziegler‐Graham K, MacKenzie EJ, Ephraim PL, Travison TG, Brookmeyer R. Estimating the Prevalence of Limb Loss in the United States: 2005 to 2050. Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation2008; 89(3):422‐9.
[2] Owings M, Kozak LJ, National Center for Health S. Ambulatory and Inpatient Procedures in the United States, 1996. Hyattsville, Md.: U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics
[3] S. Schulz, C. Pylatiuk, and G. Bretthauer, "A New Ultralight Anthropomorphic Hand," in Proceedings 2001 ICRA. IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (Cat. No.01CH37164), 2001, vol. 3, pp. 2437-2441 vol.3.
[4] B. T. Carlsen, P. Prigge, and J. Peterson, "Upper Extremity Limb Loss: Functional Restoration from Prosthesis and Targeted Reinnervation to Transplantation," Journal of Hand Therapy, vol. 27, no. 2, pp. 106-114.