Design aspects of a low-cost prosthetic arm for people with severe movement disabilities

In this paper the main aspects of mechanical design behind the low-cost prosthetic arm are presented. The fundamentals of a proper design has been defined to obtain functional 3D printed 5 degree of freedom (DOF) prosthesis. The designed prosthetic arm is a part of the hybrid interface with eye tracking movement control. The main focus was to create affordable but usable prosthesis which corresponds in size and weights to the human arm. The iterative process (starting from the final segment of the arm) was used to design fully functioning arm. All the elements were evaluated regarding total weight and the maximum load that can be carried by the arm. The result of this work is a prototype that weighs below 6kg and has a range of motion comparable to the human's arm. Final product is able to freely move an object of a total weight of 1 kg. All the mechanical parts of the designed arm were 3D printed which therefore presented construction can be adopted by people with different disabilities and (when connected to interfaces like EEG, EMG or eye tracking) provide support in everyday life activities.