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Federica Prosthetic Hand

Federica” hand is a low-cost, 3D printed prosthesis, able to perform the grasping function by using an underactuated mechanical system (a single off-the-shelf servomotor controls 15 phalanxes) [1,2,3,4]. The control system is based on a muscle sensor [5, 6] and an open-source Arduino platform [7,8], as alternative to the surface electromyography (sEMG).

Various tests were carried out to verify the effectiveness of the “Federica” prosthetic hand in achieving simple daily life action (grabbing rigid and deformable objects; taking a bottle, a glass; catching a fly ball). The following video shows these tasks performed by a healthy subject. 

 

Video test of the “Federica” hand prosthesis on a healty subject

 

If you are interested in the project and need informations about it, please leave your data in the contact form and we will try to answer you shortly.

Thank you for your interest in the "Federica" hand prothesis.

Open-Source Project: all the information to reproduce the “Federica” hand (including CAD files and software) can be downloaded from this link.

Bibliography

  1. Niola, V.; Rossi, C.; Savino, S.; Troncone, S. An underactuated mechanical hand: A first prototype. In Proceedings of the 2014 23rd International Conference on Robotics in Alpe-Adria-Danube Region (RAAD); 2014; pp. 1–6.
  2. Niola, V.; Rossi, C.; Savino, S.; Carbone, G.; Gasparetto, A.; Quaglia, G. An Underactuated Mechanical Hand Prosthesys by Iftomm Italy.; 2015.
  3. Bifulco, P.; Esposito, D.; Gargiulo, G.D.; Savino, S.; Niola, V.; Iuppariello, L.; Cesarelli, M. A stretchable, conductive rubber sensor to detect muscle contraction for prosthetic hand control. In Proceedings of the 2017 E-Health and Bioengineering Conference (EHB); 2017; pp. 173–176.
  4. Cosenza, C.; Niola, V.; Savino, S. A mechanical hand for prosthetic applications: multibody model and contact simulation. Proc Inst Mech Eng H 2018, 232, 819–825, doi:10.1177/0954411918787548.
  5. Esposito, D.; Gargiulo, G.D.; Parajuli, N.; Cesarelli, G.; Andreozzi, E.; Bifulco, P. Measurement of muscle contraction timing for prosthesis control: a comparison between electromyography and force-myography. In Proceedings of the 2020 IEEE International Symposium on Medical Measurements and Applications (MeMeA); 2020; pp. 1–6.
  6. Esposito, D.; Andreozzi, E.; Fratini, A.; Gargiulo, G.D.; Savino, S.; Niola, V.; Bifulco, P. A Piezoresistive Sensor to Measure Muscle Contraction and Mechanomyography. Sensors (Basel) 2018, 18, doi:10.3390/s18082553.
  7. Esposito, D.; Cosenza, C.; Gargiulo, G.D.; Andreozzi, E.; Niola, V.; Fratini, A.; D’Addio, G.; Bifulco, P. Experimental Study to Improve “Federica” Prosthetic Hand and Its Control System. In Proceedings of the XV Mediterranean Conference on Medical and Biological Engineering and Computing – MEDICON 2019; Henriques, J., Neves, N., de Carvalho, P., Eds.; Springer International Publishing: Cham, 2020; pp. 586–593.
  8. Esposito, D.; Savino, S.; Cosenza, C.; Gargiulo, G.D.; Fratini, A.; Cesarelli, G.; Bifulco, P. Study on the Activation Speed and the Energy Consumption of “Federica” Prosthetic Hand. In Proceedings of the XV Mediterranean Conference on Medical and Biological Engineering and Computing – MEDICON 2019; Henriques, J., Neves, N., de Carvalho, P., Eds.; Springer International Publishing: Cham, 2020; pp. 594–603.
  9. Esposito, D.; Savino, S.; Cosenza, C.; Andreozzi, E.; Gargiulo, G.D.; Polley, C.; Cesarelli, G.; D’Addio, G.; Bifulco, P. Evaluation of Grip Force and Energy Efficiency of the “Federica” Hand. Machines 2021, 9, 25, doi:10.3390/machines9020025.
  10. Esposito, D.; Savino, S.; Andreozzi, E.; Cosenza, C.; Niola, V.; Bifulco, P. The “Federica” Hand. Bioengineering 2021, 8, 128. 

Other applications of Force Sensors:

 

3D-printed Hand Exoskeleton

The novel hand exoskeleton is designed to be low-cost, 3D printable, fully wearable and suitable for home use.

An efficient and underactuated mechanical system allows to move the four fingers by means of a single electric actuator.

The user can voluntarily activate the exoskeleton by using a Force-myography (FMG) control system, based on a simple microcontroller board and a sensorized armband.

The device could be of help to assist the user in activities of daily living and to recover the motor function of the paretic hand due to stroke.

 

 


 Related research study:

  1. Esposito, D.; Centracchio, J.; Andreozzi, E.; Savino, S.; Gargiulo, G.D.; Naik, G.R.; Bifulco, P. Design of a 3D-Printed Hand Exoskeleton Based on Force-Myography Control for Assistance and Rehabilitation. Machines2022,10,57 


The project is open-source: the CAD files for 3D printing are available here.

For further information, please contact: Daniele Esposito / Paolo Bifulco.

Offers

Bachelor Degree Program in Biomedical Engineering at University “Federico II” of Naples is designed to provide basic physical and engineering knowledge and its application to solve biological and medical problems. Students will acquire knowledge about: basic topics such as Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, etc.; engineering topics such as Electronics, Computer science, Electromagnetism, Telecommunications, etc.) with some practical applications to Medicine and Biology.

(Duration: 3 years - 180 CFU; Teaching language: Italian; Coordinator: Prof. M. Cesarelli)


Master Degree Program in Biomedical Engineering at University “Federico II” of Naples provides more specific biomedical engineering topics, e.g.: Biomedical Instrumentation, Biomedical Signal Processing, Clinical Engineering, Biomedical Imaging, E-Health, Telemedicine, Health-care Management, Artificial organs, Medical robotics, Hospital facilities, Bio-electromagnetism, Medical Physics, etc.).

(Duration: 2 years - 120 CFU; Teaching language: Italian; Coordinator: Prof. M. Cesarelli)

 

The University “Federico II” of Naples also offers a Master Degree Program in Industrial Bioengineering (Duration: 2years; Teaching language: English; Coordinator: Prof. P. Netti)

 

List of the BME-specific courses offered:

BME Bachelor Degree   BME Master Degree
Topic CFU Topic CFU
Principles of Bioengineering and Biomedical Instrumentation 9 Biomedical Instrumentation 9
Biomedical Signal and Data Processing 9 Biomedical Signal and Image Processing 9
  Health Information Systems 9
Foundations of Clinical Engineering 6
Artificial Organs and Prostheses 9
Medical Robotics 9
Instrumentation and Clinical Engineering 9
Management of Health Systems 9
Simulation in Medicine 9
Health Organizational Models 9
Advanced Instrumentation for Diagnosis and Therapy 9
Instrumentation for Telemedicine 9
Technology for Evaluation, Assistance and Functional Recovery 9

 

Permanent Teaching Staff

Our permanent teaching staff is composed as follows:

Teaching staff member

Title

e-mail

Google Scholar

Prof. Francesco Amato

Full Professor

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AMATO

Prof. Mario Cesarelli 

Full Professor

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CESARELLI

Prof. Paolo Bifulco

Associate Professor

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BIFULCO

Prof. Maria Romano

Associate Professor

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Prof. Alessandro Pepino

Associate Professor

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PEPINO

Dr. Mario Sansone

Associate Professor

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SANSONE

Admission Requirements

As for all the Bachelor Programs in Engineering at University of Naples Federico II, there is a compulsory admission test based on a multiple choice format. This test can be in the period February–November of each year. Even after failing the admission test, it is still possible to enroll to any of the Engineering bachelor programs, provided that additional credits are taken.