Battery Powered Mechanical Grabbing Device
By Piske, Greg; Mollendorf, Joseph C.; NSF 2009 Engineering Senior Design Projects to Aid Persons With Disabilities, pages 234-235Publication Date: 2011
Article outlines the development of a battery powered assistive grabbing device for people with grasping disabilities. The device allows users to grasp and retrieve objects that are difficult to reach, awkwardly shaped, or too heavy to lift without assistance. The grabber uses an acetal roller chain for its four fingers, providing joints for motion during opening and closing of its hand. These fingers are mounted on a shaft through a round-to-square transition piece. Three restrictor plates are adhered to each finger, and material similar to that used in football wide receiver gloves is used to increase friction between the fingers and objects retrieved. Attached to the ends of the fingers are stainless steel wire ropes which are connected together and run to a linear actuator mounted inside the shaft. The actuator is wired to a rechargeable 6 volt battery mounted on the outside of the shaft and to a switch located on the handle. The handle is similar to those used in arm crutches and includes a support around the user’s forearms. Pressing the switch activates the actuator which, in turn, closes the fingers by pulling their cables. Pressing the switch in the opposite direction opens the fingers. The assistive grabbing device was designed by an engineering student at the State University of New York at Buffalo.
Published by: Creative Learning Press, Inc. (Website:http://www.creativelearningpress.com)
Link to text: http://nsf-pad.bme.uconn.edu/2009/CHAPTER%2014%20STATE%20UNIVERSITY%20OF%20NEW%20YORK%20AT%20BUFFALO.pdf
ISBN: 1-931280-16-9
