A 2-Degree-of-Freedom Quasi-Passive Prosthetic Wrist with Two Levels of Compliance

Restoring the function of a missing hand is still a grand challenge for bioengineers. We witnessed significant recent advances in the development of myoelectric hand prostheses and their controllers. Conversely, the wrist joint is generally overlooked in prosthetics, despite playing a fundamental role in orienting the hand in space. Indeed, it may account for several degrees of freedom of the hand in reducing compensatory movements. We acknowledge that an active, three-degree-of-freedom prosthetic wrist is not a viable option for a self-contained prosthesis, therefore we merged in one design two opposed passive behaviors. The proposed wrist can automatically transition between a compliant mode, which exhibits relatively low stiffness allowing for passive motions around two rotational axes (wrist flexion/extension and radial/ulnar deviation), and a stiff mode, which grants stability during manipulation. To switch mode, no additional control input - hence cognitive burden - from the user is needed: it occurs synchronously with the prosthetic hand opening and closing motion, such that the wrist is compliant during reaching and stiff during manipulation. Our device proved reliable on the test bench and useful in a pilot test with an amputee volunteer, motivating further developments and more extensive testing to prove its effectiveness

Discorso intorno all'origine, antichita, et virtu de gli Agnus Dei di cera benedetti / di F. Vincentio Bonardo ..., dell Ordine de' Predicatori, ...

Capitulares grab. xil.Sign.: A-D4Apostillas marginalesEmblema xil. Agnus Dei en port

[Alphonso Calabriae oratio]

Ms. il·luminatTítol obtingut de la rúbrica (f. 1r)Col·lació: Vitel·la, f. i (pergamí actual) + 8 (els f. 6v, 7 i 8 en blanc) + i (pergamí actual) ; foliació moderna a llapisComposició: Escrit a línia tirada a 15 línies (f. 2r)Escriptura: Humanística antiquaDecoració: Caplletra inicial decorada amb "bianchi girari" i pa d'orEnquadernació: Actual, vellut vermell sobre fustaOrigen: Escrit a Itàlia amb anterioritat a l'any 1494, tot atenent el període en el qual Alfons esdevingué rei (1494-1495)Signatura anterior: M 813Signatura actual: València, Universitat de València. Biblioteca Històrica, BH Ms. 757Catalogat des del manuscrit original. Lectura i identificació de textos pel Prof. Francisco M. Gimeno Blay; bibliografia, documentació i normalització per Lutgarda Ortells i Silvia Villaplana Traver, novembre 2016El còdex transcriu una "Oratio" escrita per Bernardo Maria Aretino dedicada a Alfons, duc de Calàbria1. f. 1r-6r: "[rúbr.] Divo Alphonso Calabrie duci invicto supremoq[ue] militiae principi Bernardus Maria Aretinus S. P. orat[io]. [text] Alphonse armipotens p[er] quem pacata quiescet foelix Italia tuta ... de regno [et] vita dimicat ille sua. Finis"Llat