This paper presents the design and testing of an artificial finger based partly on biomechanics. The prototype was manufactured in acrylonitrile butadiene styrene plastic using a rapid prototyping three-dimensional printer. The flexing of the finger was realized by Ni-Ti shape-memory alloy (SMA) wires with diameters of 0.3 mm, activated by resistive heating. The results obtained show the new prototype to be superior in performance, mainly in terms of angles of rotation of the phalanges, compared with some SMA fingers discussed in the literature.

In this work, a robotic hand has been developed. This hand is driven by SMA (Shape Memory Alloy) wires. Some researches has showed the high rejection rate by the amputees using prosthetic upper limbs due to several problems, such as weight, high noise and need of anthropomorphism. In this context, it is presented the development of a robotic hand which is not driven by conventional actuators, in this case, SMA actuators. The mechanical structure of the robotic hand was designed using a computer program (CAD) and subsequently manufactured in ABS (acrylonitrile butadiene styrene) polymer by a rapid prototyping machine (3D printer). The robotic hand was instrumented with a bend sensor (also known as Flexsensor) to monitor the angles formed by each phalanx. The data presented, as the obtained angles, were quite satisfactory for this application. In order to corroborate the data presented by the bend sensor, a system was developed using a camera to procedure a non-contact measurement with image processing.

A reabilitação robótica vem recebendo destaque nos últimos anos por suas pesquisas relevantes na busca de dirimir problemas relacionados a pessoas que sofreram alguma amputação ou que necessitam melhorar suas capacidades motoras. Este trabalho apresenta o projeto de um dedo artificial, baseado parcialmente na fisiologia humana, na busca de contribuir para a solução de problemas citados por pesquisadores envolvidos com a reabilitação robótica, assim como por pacientes que necessitam de próteses convencionais. O protótipo desenvolvido foi fabricado em plástico ABS, usando uma impressora tridimensional de prototipagem rápida. O movimento de flexão do dedo foi realizado por molas de uma Liga com Memória de Forma (LMF) de Ni-Ti, ativados por aquecimento resistivo. Os testes realizados mostraram resultados relevantes aos encontrados na literatura internacional para dedos biométricos desenvolvidos com tecnologia semelhante, baseada em LMF.

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