Browsing by Autor "Silvia Cecilia Tapia-Siles"

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Design and Prototyping of Low Cost, 3D Printed Body Powered Hand Prosthesis for Transradial Amputees in Bolivia
(2023) Fabio Rodrigo Oporto-Tejerina; Silvia Cecilia Tapia-Siles
Hand prostheses are crucial in improving the quality of life for individuals with upper limb amputations, enabling them to regain functional capabilities and reintegrate into society. However, in countries like Bolivia, the elevated prices of commercial hand prostheses and their complex acquisition represent a major barrier for the 15.000 individuals in the country who need them. With the development of myoelectric prostheses, options for users are limited to more expensive models each time, thus body-powered prostheses have slowly stopped being developed despite their advantages concerning weight, force, and self-power. On the other hand, in the last few years, many prostheses have been developed taking advantage of the recent accessibility of 3D printers. In this work, we analyze the general problems of the distinct types of prostheses and define parameters of design, actuation, and material, finishing with a trans-radial hand prosthesis which is body-powered, hydraulic, printed in rigid and flexible filaments and contains a limited number of external elements to provide Bolivians a local, low-cost option with light and simple use, and accessible maintenance in the most remote areas in the country. The hand prosthesis, weighing 338 grams and 545 grams with the actuator, was evaluated with a portion of the SHAP (South Hampton Assessment Procedure) test with the help of a volunteer user who accomplished half of the tasks selected. The cost of the developed prosthesis is 33 USD.
VARIABLE STIFFNESS HAND PROSTHESIS: A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW
(2017) Silvia Cecilia Tapia-Siles; Oscar Urquidi-Gandarillas; Markus Pakleppa
Prosthetics is an important field in engineering due to the large number of amputees worldwide and the associated problems such as limited functionality of the state of the art. An important functionality of the human hand is its capability of adjusting the stiffness of the joints depending on the currently performed task. For the development of new technology it is important to understand the limitations of existing resources. As part of our efforts to develop a variable stiffness grasper for developing countries a systematic review was performed covering technology of body powered and myoelectric hand prosthesis. Focus of the review is readiness of prosthetic hands regarding their capability of controlling the stiffness of the end effector. Publications sourced through three different digital libraries were systematically reviewed on the basis of the PRISMA standard. We present a search strategy as well as the PRISMA assessment of the resulting records which covered 321 publications. The records were assessed and the results are presented for the ability of devices to control their joint stiffness. The review indicates that body powered prosthesis are preferred to myoelectric hands due to the reduced cost, the simplicity of use and because of their inherent ability to provide feedback to the user. Stiffness control was identified but has not been fully covered in the current state of the art. In addition we summarise the identified requirements on prosthetic hands as well as related information which can support the development of new prosthetics.