Myoelectric Control of a 3D Printed Prosthetic Hand
Rodolfo Keesey
Rodolfo Keesey is a senior at Fordham University, majoring in Cell and Molecular Neuroscience. He began tinkering as young child, where he would often dismantle broken objects, realize they were too complex for him to fix, and leaving them in complete disrepair. Motivated by his early failures, he came to college with a thirst to learn how to actually make things. His interest in prosthesis began the summer of his sophomore year, where he began experimenting with myoelectric muscle sensors in the back of his chemistry professor's lab. Currently he works in the Engineering and Design lab at Fordham University, where he attempts to improve on the design of his 3D printed prosthetic hand. He is primarily interested in using biological systems to model robotic designs, and hopes to pursue a PhD in biomedical engineering upon his graduation in 2020.
Gordon Perrett
Gordon Perrett is a senior at Central Connecticut State University majoring in Mechanical Engineering. He was roped into assisting with the creation of a 3D printed prosthetic hand by his friend Rodolfo due to his design experience. Currently he works at Pratt and Whitney while pursuing his undergraduate degree. Upon graduating, he hopes work in green engineering, and energy conservation systems. It's his passion to limit the human footprint and preserve ecological life.
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What inspired you to make this project?
I was inspired to make this project by an episode of the White Rabbit Project on Netflix, where myoelectric sensors were showcased as way to "mind read" a person's movement. I did a literary review of myoelectric sensors and found that they had a history of being used for prosthesis, but the more advanced classification methods were mostly constrained to academia. By integrating consumer grade myoelectric sensors and 3D printing, I hoped to increase the accessibility of this form of prosthesis as well as learn the basics of engineering and machine learning.