Rapid fabrication of a non‐assembly robotic hand with embedded components

Abstract

The application of rapid prototyping in fabricating a non‐assembly, multi‐articulated robotic hand with inserts is presented in this paper. The development of robotic systems that have all necessary components inserted, with no assembly required, and ready to function when the manufacturing process is complete is quite attractive. Layered manufacturing, in particular stereolithography, can provide a means to do this. Stereolithography produces a solid plastic prototype via a manufacturing procedure where three‐dimensional solid models are constructed layer upon layer by the fusion of material under computer control. An important aspect of the rapid prototype method used in this research is that multi‐jointed systems can be fabricated in one step, without requiring assembly, while maintaining the desired joint mobility. This document presents the design and techniques for part insertion into a non‐assembly, multi‐articulated, dexterous finger prototype built with stereolithography.