Written by Dave Phillips

I first heard about ROBOHAND in early February 2013, on Talk Radio 702 when John Robbie telephonically interviewed Richard [Rich]. I sent an Email to Rich who had lost 4 fingers whilst using a circular saw and told him of the loss of the top two segments of my left hand index finger after being bitten by a Violin spider on 28th August 2011.

I had investigated a prosthetic finger, but as my finger and hand still needed corrective surgery, I was waiting for my hand to stabilize after this surgery.

Rich telephoned me back that same day and I made an appointment to see him the next day.

He turned out to be a straight talking no nonsense family man, with a great sense of humour [which I pushed to the limit], a charming and supportive wife Beth.

Rich took measurements of my ‘stump’ and the angle of movement I was capable of and said he would work on a ‘ROBOHAND’ and contact me when it was ready.

On Sunday [no rest for the wicked] 21st April 2013 I arrived at Rich’s house where Rich assembled the prosthesis step by step. His Robohand was the first one he had produced and mine was number two.

Rich has a workshop at his house with everything he needs to produce the finished article. His workbench has dozens of spare parts for mechanical fingers.

The prosthesis is custom made one step at a time with checking measurements being taken as each step is progressed. It consists of several parts that have to be aligned correctly in order for the ‘finger’ to be functional. The ‘finger’ is straight when the ‘stump’ is straight, but as the ‘stump’ moved towards the thumb, the top of the finger curls inwards to meet the thumb giving the ‘finger’ gripping power.

All that remains is to ‘decorate’ the glove, then train the brain to recognize and use the Robofinger.