The unique musculoskeletal structure of the human hand brings in wider dexterous capabilities to grasp and manipulate a repertoire of objects than the non-human primates. It has been widely accepted that the orientation and the position of the thumb plays an important role in this characteristic behavior. There have been numerous attempts to develop anthropomorphic robotic hands with varying levels of success. Nevertheless, manipulation ability in those hands is to be ameliorated even though they can grasp objects successfully. An appropriate model of the thumb is important to manipulate the objects against the fingers and to maintain the stability. Modeling these complex interactions about the mechanical axes of the joints and how to incorporate these joints in robotic thumbs is a challenging task. This paper presents a review of the biomechanics of the human thumb and the robotic thumb designs to identify opportunities for future anthropomorphic robotic hands.

The lens provides refractive power to the eye and is capable of altering ocular focus in response to visual demand. This capacity diminishes with age. Current biomedical technologies, which seek to design an implant lens capable of replicating the function of the biological lens, are unable as yet to provide such an implant with the requisite optical quality or ability to change the focussing power of the eye. This is because the mechanism of altering focus, termed accommodation, is not fully understood and seemingly conflicting theories require experimental support which is difficult to obtain from the living eye. This investigation presents finite element models of the eye lens based on data from human lenses aged 16 and 35 years that consider the influence of various modelling parameters, including material properties, a wide range of angles of force application and capsular thickness. Results from axisymmetric models show that the anterior and posterior zonules may have a greater impact on shape change than the equatorial zonule and that choice of capsular thickness values can influence the results from modelled simulations.

The human lens provides one-third of the ocular focussing power and is responsible for altering focus over a range of distances. This ability, termed accommodation, defines the process by which the lens alters shape to increase or decrease ocular refractive power; this is mediated by the ciliary muscle through the zonule. This ability decreases with age such that around the sixth decade of life it is lost rendering the eye unable to focus on near objects. There are two opponent theories that provide an explanation for the mechanism of accommodation; definitive support for either of these requires investigation. This work aims to elucidate how material properties can affect accommodation using Finite Element models based on interferometric measurements of refractive index. Gradients of moduli are created in three models from representative lenses, aged 16, 35 and 48 years. Different forms of zonular attachments are studied to determine which may most closely mimic the physiological form by comparing stress and displacement fields with simulated shape changes to accommodation in living lenses. The results indicate that for models to mimic accommodation in living eyes, the anterior and posterior parts of the zonule need independent force directions. Choice of material properties affects which theory of accommodation is supported.

Objective: The human visual system alters its focus by a shape change of the eye lens. The extent to which the lens can adjust ocular refractive power is dependent to a significant extent on its material properties. Yet, the link between the optics and mechanics of the lens remains uncertain and relatively unexplored. This study aims to investigate this opto-mechanical link within the eye lens to gain insight into the processes of shape alteration and their respective decline with age. Methods: Finite Element models based on biological lenses were developed for five ages: 16, 35, 40, 57 and 62 years by correlating in vivo measurements of the longitudinal modulus using Brillouin scattering with in vitro X-ray interferometric measurements of refractive index and taking into account various directions of zonular force. Results: A model with radial cortical Young's moduli provides the same amount of refractive power with lesser change in thickness than a model with uniform cortical Young's modulus and shows uniform stress distributions with no discontinuities along the cortico-nucleus boundary. The direction of zonular angles can significantly influence curvature change regardless of the modulus distribution. Conclusions: The present paper proposes a modelling approach, coupling optical and mechanical properties of human eye lens, which reveals the effect of parameter choice on model response. Significance: This advanced modelling approach, considering the important interplay between optical and mechanical properties, has potential for use in design of accommodating implant lenses and for investigating non-biological causes of pathological processes in the lens (e.g. cataract).

Dielectric elastomer based generators (DEGs) offer some unique properties over energy generators based on other materials. These properties include high energy density, high efficiency over a broad range of frequencies, low compliance, the ability to produce high strain, large area, low cost films with no toxic materials and wide range environmental tolerance. As further shown in this paper, DEG materials can also exhibit a non-linear dynamic behavior, enhancing broad-band energy transfer. More specifically, dielectric elastomer (DE) energy generating synergetic structures (DIESYS) are considered as dynamic energy absorbers. Two elementary characteristic DIESYS design concepts are examined, leading to a typical antagonistic configuration for in-plane oscillations and a typical synagonistic configuration for out-of-plane oscillations. Originally, all the DE elements of the structure are assumed to be always in tension during all the phases of the harvesting cycle, conforming to the traditional concept of operation of DE structures. As shown in this paper, the traditional always-in-tension concept results in a linear dynamic system response, despite the fact that the implemented (DE) parts are considered to have been made of a non-linear (hyperelastic) material. In contrast, the proposed loose-part concept ensures the appearance of a non-linear broad-band system response, enhancing energy transfer from the environmental source.