Assessment of Efficiency and Vibro-Acoustic Behaviour of Prosthesis Prototypes

Such as for the development of any given technological product, the experimental testing of the prosthesis prototypes is necessary to characterize the actual performances of the devices with respect to the expected technical specifications and to assess their overall quality. A test rig and ad-hoc test procedures have been set up by the authors to deeply analyze electromechanical articulations for upper limb myoelectric prostheses. Bench tests were studied to measure the actual performances (payload and velocities, current draining) of prosthesis prototypes and to objectively quantify their quality. The definition of proper metrics to assess “quality” can be used to compare different design solutions, i.e. to assess the suitability and incidence of possible modifications made on a prototype by comparing the values of the target parameters before and after the design changes. The test procedures would also allow the definition of some acceptability criteria in order to assess the suitability of products acquired from external providers with respect to given specifications. The paper outlines the set up of the test rig and the data processing, and illustrates the results retrieved from the experimental tests of the prosthetic articulation prototypes developed at the INAIL Prosthesis Center in collaboration with the University of Bologna.