This is something I have been working on for a while now. I'm making it from dowel rods and wire pins. So far I have the fingers made, but haven't gotten the time to making the palm or wrist. I have the design all planned out, but haven't really had a lot of time to actually build it.

I was wondering if anyone would be willing to help me control the hand though. I was thinking about using nitinol wires through the fingers to control motion, or using linear actuators past the wrist to pull/push steel wires in the fingers for motion control. I can build the mechanical part without much difficulty, but I'm pretty new to embedded systems, and microcontrollers are foreign to me. I was wondering if someone could recommend anything to me that would be good for starting on.

I'm pretty quick to learn, but I really don't even know where to start. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

To start with Embedded system

The best recommendation is PIC16F84a

Search for PIC16F84a tutorial You will find plenty of them

GL

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Hesham Ismail Mohammed Sharif
Thank me if you want

 

No, probably the WORST recommendation is the 16F84a, it's an obselete old antique re-released at an inflated price. Use a modern PIC device, higher spec, lower cost, more options - as a minimum, use the 16F628a, the device that was the replacement for the 16F84a.

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PIC programmer software, and PIC Tutorials at:
http://www.winpicprog.co.uk

 

I have to agree with Nigel. The 16F88 is a nice place to start if you are going to go the 16F route.

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Please post questions to the forums. PM's are for personal communication.

BCHS/3v0's Tutorials
Junebug USB PIC programmer kit., USB Bit Whacker,
The 15 Minute Printed Circuit Board! (+drill time)

 

Also, grep for "Utah/MIT Hand" on the net to find out how other people have addressed the mechanical part, if you're interested.

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Go Trojans!

 

I got the mechanical part down. I sat there for a day or so and thought about how my hand moves, and why it moves as it does. The hard part wasn't figuring out how to make it work, it was cutting the material without messing up, as I just moved to a new house, and the garage hasn't yet been converted to a shop and all my tools are still hiding in boxes unknown.

I ended up using a dremmel, a really heavy vice, and a really steady hand for everything.

I'll post some pics later on once I actually finish making it. So far I have the first, middle, and ring fingers made, and they move and bend just like real fingers. Oh, and they are solid, unlike many where the fingers are a single segment pinned to two segments, pinned to a single segment.

Eventually I hope to build the whole body, but I have neither time nor money for such an endeavor. Perhaps once I'm finished woth school, have a regular working schedule, and a decent paycheck I can tackle that project...

PS, thanks for the recommendations on the PIC's. I'll be looking into them sometime later this week.