Have you ever wanted to build a robotic hand that can feed you or play music on a piano for you?
Well this project is designed for you to build your own robotic hand that can carry out basic tasks.

The reason i decided to make a robotic hand was because i was participating in a school science fair and i really wanted to show my school something that they had never seen before. This project took a couple months, several prototypes to fix all the errors and was made entirely at home. What i learnt from this project is that i should really research properly before going out and buying parts. I am really proud that the model actually worked because it is my first time doing something this complicated. However the only thing i would change would be the material used for the fingers since it bent easily and caused the hand to not be able to pick up heavy objects.

Step 1: Materials

Things you will need:
Servomotors, Microcontroller (Arduino), Breadboard, Wires, Alligator clips, Foam board, Glove, Fishing line, Rubber tubing, fiber glass, hot glue.

Step 2: Base

Start by constructing a base from foam board or any other material.
Cut out two circles; a large circle and a smaller circle.
Glue everything together with hot glue and begin applying fiber glass.

Step 3: Palm

Begin constructing the palm by tracing the outline of your palm and cutting out two pieces.
Next, cut five pieces of rubber tubing and carve out three joints as shown above.
Now use the fishing line by tying one end to the tips of the fingers.

Step 4: Joining the Palm and the Base

Go ahead and join the palm to the base using hot glue, try reinforcing it with some pieces of wood.
Continue coating the hand with fiberglass.

Step 5: Applying Servo Motors

Attach the servo motors (standard servos) to the base using hot glue or screws. There are to be five motors (one for each finger) and can be placed in any order as long as they can rotate without touching.
Tie the other end of the fishing lines to it's own servo.

Step 6: Shaping the Hand

Cover the hand with bristol board and cut a hole to view the motors.
Coat it entirely with fiberglass, sand it and paint it the color of your choice.

Step 7: Wiring the Circuit

Now that your done with the painful part, you can move on to wiring the circuit.
The servos have three wires connected to them a black, a red and a yellow. The red wire is connected to power, which in this case is 5 volts, while the black wire is connected to ground. The yellow wire is needed to send information back and forth between the Arduino and the servos.
The picture above shows how to connect the servos to the Arduino.

Continue by programming your Arduino to control the servo's for whatever movement you want.
Below is a simple code that makes the fingers open and close simultaneously.

Now you have a third hand that can play music for you or type for you! With the right programming the possibilities are endless.