Low-Cost Electronic Prosthesis With An Artificial Intelligence (AI) Using 3D Printer
This summer, I built a prosthetic hand using a 3D printer and Internet on Thing (IoT) devices. This will provide an alternative (to the expensive model that already exists) for low GDP countries. The prosthesis is expensive due to the inbuilt software and the mechanical parts that are built-in, as well as the materials used. It is hard for people in low gross domestic product (GDP) countries to afford the common expensive prosthesis. Even most of the people in my home country (Japan) would have a challenging time to pay for this. So we started to think if there are any methods to create a cheap, automated, electronic prosthesis. To lower its price, we thought of using a 3D printer which uses plastic to print an object. The benefit of building a prosthesis hands using a 3D printer is that we can replace any parts quickly and easily. Electronic components such as Arduino and Raspberry Pi1 are used to control the hand, this makes it easy and again, this makes it cost efficient to replace. To achieve the goal of automating the movements, we added object detection software that automatically selects the best way to grip the detected objects. We hope this prosthesis can help people that don't have a hand to chase their dream.
