A Child's Body-Powered Prehensor with Adaptive Grasp

描述（申请人提供）：目前，上肢缺陷儿童可选择的义肢抓握器很少。对于许多这样的孩子来说，身体动力装置提供了比肌电装置更好的——或者在某些情况下是唯一的——康复选择，但这些传统夹具的一般技术水平几十年来一直保持相对不变，没有真正的创新或改进。现有的模型不能充分解释儿童的肌肉消耗情况，也不能提供儿童在玩耍时需要的适应性抓取模式。在一项由NIH资助的早期研究项目中，ADA开发了一种创新的抓取引擎技术，用于成人身体供电的终端设备，实现了实用的可变机械优势。ADA还制定了一个概念上的自适应数字，以正常的人类手指为图案，与这个抓取引擎结合使用。这种组合是专门设计的，可以有效地将儿童舒适的体力消耗水平转化为他们活动所需的有用的适应性抓握模式：圆柱形，球形和尖捏。这种集成的抓握器将被设计成低成本，易于维护和维修，并具有增强的动态外观，从而解决父母的主要问题之一-为他们的孩子提供更正常的外观。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): At present, children with upper-limb deficiencies have few choices of prosthetic prehensors available to them. For many of these children, body-powered devices offer a better--or in some cases the only--rehabilitative option over myoelectric units, but the general state-of-the-art for these conventional grippers has remained relatively unchanged for decades with no genuine innovation or improvement. Existing models do not adequately account for children's muscular exertion profiles, nor do they provide adaptive grasping patterns children need while at play. Under an earlier research program funded by NIH, ADA developed an innovative grasping engine technology for adult body-powered terminal devices that achieves practical variable mechanical advantage. ADA has also formulated a conceptual adaptive digit, patterned after the normal human finger, for use in combination with this grasping engine. This combination is specifically designed to efficiently transform a child's comfortable level of physical exertion into useful adaptive grasp patterns they need for their activities: cylindrical, spherical, and tip-pinch. The integrated prehensor will be designed for low cost, ease of service and repair, and with enhanced dynamic cosmesis, thereby addressing one of the primary concerns of parents--a more normal appearance for their child. ADA's specific Phase I goal is to show that an integrated prehensor combining its grasping engine and a practical adaptive digit pair is technically feasible. In Phase II, a marketable product will be developed and validated through extensive human subject field trials; commercialization will follow in Phase III with the launch of an excellent child's terminal device clinicians can readily prescribe for their patients.