Remote Controlled Operated Prosthetic Arm

Abstract

Prosthesis is an artificial extension that replaces a missing body part. Prostheses are typically used to replace parts lost by injury or missing from birth or to supplement defective body parts. In addition to the standard artificial limb for every-day use, many amputees have special limbs and devices to aid in the participation of sports and recreational activities. Prosthetic arm is a boon for those persons who have lost their arm (below elbow) due to some mishap. One of the main requirements of artificial arm is that functionally, it should be as near to the natural hand as possible. Various designs of artificial arm are available in the market, categorised as mechanical, electrical and Myo-electric arm. Mechanical devices are functional prostheses that use some motion of the body to provide the force necessary to control the prosthetic component. Electrical arms operate the hand by a motor driven by micro switches and relays. Myo-Electric arm is stimulated by muscle signal available from the stump of amputee. It has been observed that as the time of amputation increased, the signal strength from amputee stump decreases and muscles lost their activity and acquire a permanent fatigue state. Amputation period of more than about 10 years causes the permanent loss of the muscular action and no EMG output is available from such patients, EMG operated arm is useless for them. So a new prosthetic arm has been proposed, which operates wirelessly by the remote control system consists of four switches for four different operations besides opening & closing of hand with two different levels of grip forces.