The team behind the original Raptor has released the Raptor Reloaded, an updated and re-factored version of the Raptor Hand. The entire device was modeled in Fusion 360, a free CAD tool that can import and export most standard solid body modeling formats such as STEP and IGES. By designing the hand in a tool compatible with numerous CAD packages, we hope to lower the barrier to contribution to the e-NABLE project for engineers and designers. Previously, if a designer wanted to make a small adjustment to a part of a hand, they’d have to rebuild the entire part in their CAD software before they could make the change. Now they can download the source files and just spend their time making the specific change they had in mind. With this new set of source files, we hope to improve the pace of research and development within the design community.
Changes in this design include:
- Improved print-ability due to custom modeled supports
- Cyborg Beast compatible sizing
- Improved dovetail geometry
- New tensioner retention clip
- Easier to use tensioner pins
- Low profile elastics with two tie-off options
- More access to elastic and flexsor routing channels
- Debossed versioning information on palm and gauntlet
- Slimmer, more anthropomorhpic fingers
- Narrower knuckle block
- More intuitive assembly (new one-way proximals)
- Thorough documentation and modular design
- Source files in native Fusion 360 format, also STEP and IGES
- Additional velcro-mounting options as well as traditional velcro loop and leather options
- Re-oriented snap-pin head recesses to improve printability
- Knuckle pins are now removable, making the hand easy to repair and upgrade
- Strengthened tie-bars on finger tips
Iteration and Testing are Key
Now that the design is ready, I’d like to share a bit about the process behind the design. It was a long process involving hundreds of hours of design and print time as the team iterated up on the palm, the phalanges, the gauntlet, the tensioner, and all the snap pins. Every piece was printed on multiple machines by multiple team members to ensure stability and functionality across different 3D printers. Numerous small changes were implemented to facilitate easy and reliable printing.
A Design Is Only as Open as It’s Documentation
As an open source community developing open source hardware designs, it’s important to design for accessibility and transparency. This means structuring the very design files themselves for easy manipulation and readability. While an on-going process, the Fusion source files for the Raptor Reloaded are annotated to provide designers with information about the relationships between 2D and 3D data, much like comments in code help developers interpret and understand code. Next, we documented all the important mechanical interfaces of all the parts of the design, allowing any designer to design something that will be compatible with the Raptor Reloaded just by looking at the schematics. This is a lot of information to manage and we will be posting all source files and schematics to our github soon.
Brilliant, +Andreas Bastian! Thanks for your thoughts. All the best for 2015!
I’ve always wandered why all the fingers having the same length? Isn’t it more practical to have them like on a real hand, so the person could wear a gloves to hide his disability?
Hello Yury! Actually the previous designs did have various lengths of fingers but we have found that the little differences in length have given the users no benefit and by having all of the fingers printed the same length – there is no confusion as to which part goes to which finger during assembly.
These hands would not work inside of a glove as the cording would get caught in the fabric. They need to be free to move and not be confined.
The children who use these devices are actually quite proud of them and love that their hands look like super hero hands and want to show them – so they aren’t asking to hide their hands anymore. 🙂 They are proud of them now and many of their friends are wishing they had one too!
Awsome job! It’s available in Handomatic right now?
Adri – I think we are waiting to put it into the handomatic until we have had some feedback from the design/printing community to make sure it doesnt need any other tweaking. Before we make it an official design – we like to get as much feedback from folks who are printing on various machines to compare notes and get all of the wonky things worked out first. 🙂
Do they make these for adults and were
Hello! Yes! Any age can get one!
Please fill out our intake form and we can get you matched with someone that may be able to print for you!
Form is here: http://goo.gl/lW1uX6
Can you explain how the elastics are attached? It looks like it loops from first to second finger, and third to fourth. So you use 2 pieces of elastic? Thanks, great design!
Hello! Best place to ask this question is in our Google+ group! (I’m just the website gal! 😉 heh)
Google+ is here: https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities/102497715636887179986