An Adaptive Prosthetic Terminal Device

描述（由申请人提供）：Empire Robotics, Inc.与Liberating Technologies， Inc.合作，计划开发一种通过颗粒介质“干扰”实现的自适应假肢夹持器。Empire Robotics公司之前已经展示了抓手的核心技术在工业自动化应用中的实用性，在工业自动化应用中，通过控制膜内的空气压力，包含在柔性不渗透膜中的颗粒介质可以在固体和流体状态之间转换。当系统上没有压差时，夹持器是柔软的，可以被动地适应目标物体。变形后，空气从膜内排出，形成“卡住”的刚性状态，以牢牢抓住物体。与现有的由刚性钳口组成的终端设备相比，该夹具可以提高上肢截肢者在家中进行日常生活活动（adl）的便利性，也可以帮助截肢者重返工作岗位。该提案概述了证明应用该小说的可行性所需的三个目标

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Empire Robotics, Inc., in collaboration with Liberating Technologies, Inc., is proposing to develop an adaptive prosthetic gripper enabled by the "jamming" of granular media. Empire Robotics has previously demonstrated the utility of the gripper's core technology-in which granular media contained in a flexible, impermeable membrane can transition between solid-like and fluid-like states by controlling the air pressure within the membrane-in industrial automation applications. When there is no differential pressure applied on the system, the gripper is soft and can passively conform to target objects. After deformation, air is evacuated from inside the membrane inducing a "jammed" rigid state to firmly grasp the object. Compared to existing terminal devices which often consist of rigid clamping jaws, the proposed gripper can improve the ease with which upper-limb amputees can perform activities of daily living (ADLs) in the home, and can also help amputees return to work. This proposal outlines three aims that are required to prove the feasibility of applying this novel gripping technology towards a commercially viable prosthetic terminal device: (1) to identify and evaluate the feasibility of critical jamming features (e.g., to optimize the grip-strength-to-weigh performance of the gripper); (2) to design and build a self-contained jamming prosthesis prototype; and (3) to receive preliminary feedback on the feasibility of the prosthesis prototype from clinicians and to conduct laboratory testing with amputee subjects.