Patent ID: 9585771
Date: 2017-03-07
CPC Classifications: A61F,B25J

Claim:
1. An electric prosthetic hand comprising: a plurality of finger parts, each of which is flexed and extended about a joint section; a wire arranged along each of the finger parts while passing through the joint section; a motor that winds up the wire to pull the wire along a length of the wire in a direction of flexing, thereby flexing the finger part; a polymer actuator formed of a polymer material into an elongated shape and arranged to correspond to a part of the wire, wherein the polymer actuator expands and contracts in an axial direction by being deformed elastically in response to application of a voltage and restoring its original shape in response to stopping the application of the voltage; and a locking mechanism that restricts relative movement between the wire and one of the motor and the polymer actuator after the wire is wound up by the motor, wherein the polymer actuator expands and contracts when the locking mechanism restricts the relative movement, thereby pulling the wire in the flexing direction.