Fusion 360: Animated Prosthetic Hand for Beginners

In this project, I designed and animated a simplified prosthetic hand using Fusion 360. This hand model includes four curling fingers, a functional thumb at a right angle, and a basic palm structure. It’s a beginner-friendly model that focuses on finger articulation using joints, motion links, and animation.

I am still new to using the software, so I wanted to improve my skills as a Biomedical Engineering student. This is why I decided to design a prosthetic hand. Therefore, I used trial-and-error, and I am documenting the process for others to loosely follow.

This Instructable was made for a student design contest and is a great way to learn Fusion 360 components, joints, and animation tools!

1. Fusion 360 (free student version)
2. A computer that can run CAD
3. Optional: 3D printer (for future iterations)

1. I decided the process should be building from the inside out, so starting with the bones and then adding joints later in order to simplify.
2. I studied the anatomy of the bones of a finger, and created a design.
3. I then added hinges to represent the joints in the finger.

1. I started by creating 2 15 x 20 mm cuboids and extruding to 50 mm and 35 mm respectively. This allowed me to design the hinges.
2. The bottom cuboid represented the metacarpal phalanx and the top cuboid represented the proximal phalanx.
3. I realised that for the finger to curl, there needed to be a gap between the two, to eliminate overlap.
4. This helped me discover that I needed a gap between the hinge ears and the phalanx, to reduce the friction when the finger curls.

1. I used my previous discoveries to design the full finger, including the metacarpal, proximal, middle, and distal phalanxes.
2. I copied the finger 3 times with a 15 mm gap to create the 4 fingers, making them all identical for simplicity.

1. I created components from bodies and separated them into main components representing the fingers.
2. I created the revolute as-built joints between each adjacent phalanx on the first finger:
3. For the hinge between the metacarpal and proximal phalanxes, I used a maximum limit of 90 degrees.
4. For the hinge between the proximal and middle phalanxes, I used a maximum limit of 110 degrees.
5. For the hinge between the middle and distal phalanxes, I used a maximum limit of 80 degrees.
6. I used two motion links to combine all of the joins and created a finger curl, whilst having the metacarpal phalanx grounded.
7. I repeated these steps for each finger.

1. I created the palm by sketching a rectangle that has the same width and height as the fingers and the gaps combined, and extruded it.
2. I used cut to make space for the hinges, and created those in the same fashion as the ones on the fingers.

1. I created a revolute as-built join between the palm and the metacarpal phalanx (maximum 90 degrees) and used motion links to combine them all.
2. In hindsight, I should have grounded the palm instead of the metacarpal phalanx. This would have made more sense logically as the palm does not curl into the fingers.

1. I created the thumb using what I had learned from modelling the fingers (I used a 90 degree revolute joint in relation to the palm).
2. I repeated the process of making the as-built joints and using motion links to combine everything.