Design and manufacture of an electro-mechanical hand position tracker

This thesis discusses the conceptual design, manufacture, and assembly of a device that tracks the movements and position of a user's hand. This device will be used for stroke patients undergoing rehabilitation using robotic aids, monitoring their use of their unimpaired hand, particular when performing bimanual tasks. This device uses a system of linkages and potentiometers to track the angles of the wrist, as well as the MCP and CMC joints of the index finger and the thumb. This allows a simple model of the hand to be constructed on the computer in x, y, and z dimensions. In addition, a base was designed and built to locate the absolute position of the hand in three dimensions. The potentiometers are then connected to a computer where the movements can be viewed.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Mechanical Engineering.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2007

Author dc:creator

• Tan, Nicola

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Hermano Igo Krebs.

• Mechanical Engineering.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/40943

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/40943