The rise of Luke Skywalker’s hand

 Introduction

This activity combines a fun craft activity with robotics, simple machines and hand anatomy.

Key Concepts/Terminology

Robotics:

• End effector- the part of the robot that interacts with the environment

Anatomy:

• Carpal tunnel - a canal in the wrist where tendons and median nerve pass through.
• Tendon - fibrous cord that attaches muscle to a bone part
• Median nerve - a nerve that passes through the middle of palm side of arm (through the carpal tunnel)
• Flexor retinaculum (of hand) - fibrous band on palm side of the wrist forming the roof of the carpal tunnel

Materials 

Per student:

• 1 pre-cut and assembled cardboard “hand/arm” with glued-on straws at spaces between joints (folded part of cardboard)
• 5 cord strings “tendons”
• 1 strip band “flexor retinaculum” -forms the roof/top part of carpal tunnel
• Duct-tape

Assembly of Robotic Hand

• Tie and attach the precut strings onto the tips of the cardboard hand
• String the cord through the straws (that have been glued onto the cardboard hand
• Use a piece of duct-tape to fasten the strip band at the wrist area

Test and Operation

• Try pulling on the string(s) to control the fingers
• Now try to use the hand to pick up small objects such as a toilet paper roll