Improvement of the control system of an electromechanical prosthesis by using microcontroller PIC

• Grant number: 17/02547-8
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: May 01, 2017
• End date: April 30, 2018
• Field of knowledge: Engineering - Biomedical Engineering - Medical Engineering
• Principal Investigator: Chi Nan Pai
• Grantee: Thiago Costa Amaral
• Host Institution: Escola Politécnica (EP). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Amputation of the limbs affects around 50.000 Brazilians every year. The loss of a limb impacts significantly the lifestyle of a person, especially if it is the loss of an upper limb. In order to minimize this impact, several groups and enterprises have been developing upper limbs electromechanical prosthesis, in an attempt to mimic the movement of the fingers of the hand. However, the developed prosthesis is expensive and not accessible for everyone. Our laboratory has been researching about electromechanical prosthesis fabricated by addictive manufacturing process to decrease the cost of the prosthesis. In the first version, the movements of the fingers are controlled by the development platform Arduino Micro. However, this platform was designed to be used even by someone with no programming background, so the possibilities of program language are limited. The goal of this project is to switch the microcontroller of Arduino to PIC, because of the big diversity of configurations of the microcontroller, and its vast available references and codes. First programming in PIC will be learned, and then the electronic circuit for the use of PIC with other components of the prosthesis will be developed. After that, the code in Arduino will be translated for PIC, and the prosthesis with new microcontroller will be tested. (AU)