The proposed work centers on developing a prototype body-powered prosthetic hand terminal device that is mechanically compliant, passively adaptive, and anthropomorphic in structure. Over 10,000 major amputations of the upper extremities occur every year in the United States alone. However, while computing, power, and actuation technology has improved drastically, very few advances in prosthetic devices have been adopted by the amputee community in the last half century. During their everyday lives, most individuals still choose split-hooks or other simple mechanisms as terminal devices for functionality due to their durability, reliability, and low cost. Furthermore, a large majority of amputees opt to use body-powered (cable driven) prostheses, as these devices allow the user to retain a sense of feedback about the prosthesis state through the cable.

The vast majority of recent research efforts in upper-limb terminal devices have focused on the development of rigid, robotic-like hands that are mechanically complex and utilize DC motors as actuators - externally-powered devices typically intended for myoelectric control. Alternatively, this project works towards the development of a novel body-powered (cable-actuated) hand prosthesis -- the technology of choice of users looking for function -- that retains the mechanical simplicity and durability required for a practical terminal device, yet incorporates an anthropomorphic structure, a large number of degrees of freedom, and allows for a "soft touch" with objects in the surrounding environment.