Development of a miniaturised hydraulic actuation system for artificial hands

This article will present a powerful miniaturised hydraulic system of compact design that is used for the actuation of artificial hands. This system was developed as an alternative to today's commonly used electromechanical prosthetic actuation systems. System components and hand prototypes reflect many years of experience of our laboratory in rehabilitation medicine, CAD design and prototyping, mechanical engineering, electronic construction, and programming. Prototypes of hydraulically actuated hands were tested by patients under support of orthopaedic companies. The latest hydraulic prostheses have advantages in construction, design, and performance, including adaptivity during grasping and holding of objects. The newly developed miniaturised hydraulic system is competitive with standard mechanical systems of electrically driven prosthetic hands. The modular construction of the system developed allows for customising the mechanical construction of each prosthetic hand and its functional abilities. Contributions of patients concerning grasping activities of prostheses may be taken into account when choosing the hand components already. The components of the new hydraulic actuation system and their technical characteristics will be interesting for specialists in automation technology, actuator development, mechanics, prosthetics, and rehabilitation.