The F uture of Humanity

1. The Future of Humanity

2. The Problem we want to solve • With this invention we are trying to help people who have lost an arm or hand due to a tragic accident or from disease. • The thing that motivated us the most to build this project was because of my aunt, whohad lost her arm in a driving accident. • We designed this project to make lifebetter for people who have lost their arm or hand. • The reason people this invention is important is disabled people will be able to do similar things a person who has all their limbs.

3. Constraints and Requirements of this project • We had many requirements, however there were 2 requirements that were the most important • On of the requirements was to make the finger’s joints bend and unfold • The other important requirement was to program the servo motors and microprocessor board using the website called RobotC • Our task was to make our project move its fingers ( bend and unfold) and to be able to grab onto an object, however we were only able to make our project move its fingers and make signs instead of grabbing objects • We spent about $90total.

4. brainstorming • When brainstorming our first ideas, we wanted to create a hand that would be portable, lightweight and stable. • While brainstorming, we came up with ideas about how the fingers will bend and unfold back to theirnormal position. • For example, we planned on using hinges to make the fingers bend, however that didn’t work and we then used toggle bolts which did work. • We were deciding to use eitherplastic or metal tubes for the fingers and we came to the decision of going with the metal tubes. • We used a metal piece from a can to use it as the palm of the hand • We also used yarn to pull the fingers and copper tubes to place the yarn through the copper tubes • Everything is controlled by servo motors and a VEX Cortex processor.

5. our Prototypes • We created 2 prototypes, however only 1 out of the 2 worked. • The prototype that worked consisted of straws, strings, and silicone. • By studying the hand of an actual human we were able to create a hand that was similar anatomically. • In our prototype the fingers bent like we wanted to without trouble with the joints. • One problem we had on our prototype was the middle finger. We had cut the middle joint a little bit too much, resulting in the finger bending backwards too far. • Another problem we had with our prototype was that the hand did not grab hold of any object. • From this prototype, we learned that in order for the joints to work properly, we had to cut the joints at a certain width and angle for them to bend and unfold.

6. The silicone prototype

7. Final Product • Our final project was somewhat successful. • We got some fingers to bend how we wanted to and we were able to program it from a PC using a programcalled RobotC. • The final project was a great invention but we plan on innovating more and more • Our final product can do signs, for example it can do the okay sign

8. Innovation/ Improvement • We can improve our project by making it smaller so it can be portable and increase stability in the fingers. • For example, we can use smaller servos and making the fingers smaller and using a metal tube that weigh less. • We can also make the hand be able to grab hold of objects and not just bend and unfold the fingers.

9. Works Cited • Eglowstein, Howard “I Like to Move It : Motorizing a Robotic Hand,” 4, February, 2013, ScienceBuddies, 17, February, 2013, http://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/project_ideas/Roboticsp003.shtml • Ross, William “The Wonderful World of Robots,” 12, August, 2001, David Newman’s Page, 17, February, 2013, http://ffden-2.phys.uaf.edu/211.fall2000.web.projects /William%20Ross/index.html