DIY Robotic Hand – Arduino & DIY Flex-sensor controlled

Since watching the 6 million dollar man in my youth (Google ‘Steve Austin’ kids!) I’ve always wanted a bionic appendage. Have some time on my hands in this time of Covid19 so bionic I go 😉

I was inspired by a video where a gentleman made an Arduino controlled hand with wooden finger segments. But tweaking designs in wood is a lot trickier than in Fusion360 so thought I’d hack a quick ‘Carpal Segment’ together as a base building block to work from. Then on to see what I could find from around the house to make a proto-hand work.

I’ve attached STL and Fusion360 files of what I came up with.

My hand was inspired by Homer Simpson … he only has 4 digits! Why? 20% less work if honest. My fingers are all the same length using identical segments but these 3D printed Carpal segments could be stretched during printing to be longer/shorter or fatter/skinnier as you see fit.

see vid of project: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNBJm51Z8vJDZg6J1g-d11w