Animatronic conforming Hand with Opposable Primate Thumb

thingiverse

This project involves creating a single 3D printed hand with an opposable thumb using flexible PLA for optimal flexibility. The builder should begin by watching a video tutorial before proceeding to full build instructions on Let's Make Robots. The design originated from the creator's previous jointed finger experiments, and the initial version was made with standard PLA just to test the concept. For best results, choose a low Z-axis increment of 0.1mm for increased strength and flexibility. Infill should also be set at 100% for enhanced durability. The hand consists of a backplane, cable/ligament trunking, and cable ducts carrying fishing gut from the wrist to finger tips and the opposable thumb. To create the hand, the builder can use a flatbed scanner to freeze their hand in time and import it into Blender as an image plane. They then use the Bezier curve tool to plot points around the hand's outline and convert the curve to a mesh before extruding it along the Z-axis. Cables are threaded through ducting and secured at finger tips, opposable thumb, and knuckles. To counteract finger springback after activation, a thin layer of elastic silicone sealant is applied to the back of each finger. Overall, this 3D printed hand provides a realistic and flexible design for various applications.