A Bangladeshi youth on the mission to provide low-cost robotic hands
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Loading... - Aadya Rana
- 22 Apr 2022
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When an arm is lost or amputated, an artificial hand can help in the rehabilitation of a person. However, such robotic hands come with a huge expenditure. Joy Barua Lablu, a Bangladeshi youth has a mission to provide such hands at an affordable price to all those who are in need.
Joy Barua has previously developed robotic hands that can do household chores or risky missions. In 2020, he aimed to develop bionic prosthetic hands for people with no limbs. After almost a year of research and experiments, Joy Barua initiated his first trial on an individual without a hand from Bandarban in September 2021, receiving immense success. Now he has over 200 orders in hand among which some are from India, Malaysia and the US. He has already sent his first international order to Turkey.
How does a robotic hand function?
Before determining what kind of a bionic prosthetic hand a person needs, Joy Barua performs electromyography (EMG) and other essential tests. Each hand is exclusively customised for each individual. There are four kinds of robotic hands in his workshop.
EMG-control robotic hand
The first type of hand is the 'EMG-control robotic hand' if the EMG test is positive. This is for those who do not have a limb or hands but are able to control robotic hands with neuro-linked assistance. This basically works with the help of nerve signals stemming from the user's brain.
Auto self-control hand
Sometimes, the nerves of the hands do not work actively and the EMG test is not successful, making the EMG-control robotic hand an unideal solution in specific scenarios. In such cases, patients are provided with auto self-control hands. These work with the aid of an auto control switch which has nothing to do with nerves.
There can be two kinds of auto self-control hands. The first one is the voice-control hand that can be controlled by the voice of the user, a device made with the aid of voice recognition programming. As per the request of the user, the language can be set in English or Bangla. The other kind of auto self-control hand is the leg-control hand, which works through the movement of the owner's toes. When a person does not have any hand, a small transmitter is set to his toes that provides a wireless signal through their movements to the robotic hand.
Robotic hands for daily chores and risky missions
Besides these, there are two more types of robotic hands that Joy Barua makes. Robotics third hand is for those who have both their hands but need another for additional work while increasing efficiency. It can be used by setting it up on the back of a person with the help of a belt. Another one named wireless robotic hand is for those who are involved in any kind of dangerous work, such as firefighting. A transmitter remains connected to the owner of the hand that copies his movement and sends signals to the robotic hand, which works up to 800 metres away from the user. Read More...
