Carvalho, André Rui Dantas2011-07-262011-07-2620112011-07-26http://hdl.handle.net/1828/3423This thesis presents a preliminary design of a fully articulated five-fingered anthropomorphic human hand prosthesis with particular emphasis on the controller and actuator design. The proposed controller is a modified artificial neural network PID-based controller with application to the nonlinear and highly coupled dynamics of the hand prosthesis. The new solid state actuator has been designed based on electroactive polymers, which are a type of material that exhibit electromechanical behavior and a liquid metal alloy acts as the electrode. The solid state actuators reduce the overall mechanical complexity, risk failure and required maintenance of the prosthesis.enHand ProsthesisNeural Network ModelingNeural Network ControlMulti-body DynamicsElectroactive PolymersSolid-state ActuatorThesisAvailable to the World Wide Web