Gerwin Smit | BITE – Bio-Inspired Technology Group

My name is Gerwin Smit, and I’m a Assistant Professor at the BioMechanical Engineering (BME) department.

My research focuses on design of innovative assistive technology that is accessible to all, by using the newest technologies. Examples of assistive technologies are prostheses and orthoses. These devices should be comfortable to be worn, and they should be intuitively controllable by the prosthesis user, with little effort.

The ‘Hundred Dollar Hand’ or iGrip

We have developed the Hundred Dollar Hand. An affordable prosthetic hand, that can be 3D-printed anywhere in the world. This prosthetic is now available on the market as the iGrip prosthetic hand. It is being produced by Vispala, in Kolkata, India. Is has already been supplied to many people in India and Africa. See below a video on the Hundred Dollar Hand.

The Self Grasping Hand, or mHand Adapt

We also developed the Self Grasping prosthetic hand. This prosthetic hand is inspired by the principle of the human hand anatomy, called ‘tenodesis’. The hand closes when the wrist is flexed backwards. This patented mechanism, allows the user to grasp objects, without motors and batteries, and without the need of using the healthy hand. The Self Grasping hand, has been brought to the market as the ‘mHand Adapt’ by MoveAble, Ede, Netherlands. See below a demonstration of the hand in daily practice.

The CloudWalker

We are currently working on the development of a lightweight affordable exoskeleton, the CloudWalker.

Project Inspiration
During the early days of the COVID crisis, we developed a mechanical ventilator, that could be quickly produced anywhere in the world. If you want to know more about Project Inspiration, have a look at this page: https://www.bitegroup.nl/research-projects/project-inspiration

Publications

Press

Journal Articles

Most recent articles can be found here: https://scholar.google.nl/

Haverkate L, Smit G, Plettenburg DH. Assessment of body-powered upper limb prostheses by able-bodied subjects, using the Box and Blocks Test and the Nine-Hole Peg Test. Prosthet Orthot Int. 2016.
Smit G, Plettenburg D, Van der Helm F. The Lightweight Delft Cylinder Hand, the First Multi-Articulating Hand That Meets the Basic User Requirements. IEEE Trans Neural Syst Rehabil Eng. 2015 Aug 7;23(3):431 – 40.
Smit G, Plettenburg DH, Helm FCTvd. A mechanism to compensate undesired stiffness in joints of prosthetic hands. Prosthetics and Orthotics International. 2014;38(2).
Jelínek F, Smit G, Breedveld P. Bioinspired Spring-Loaded Biopsy Harvester—Experimental Prototype Design and Feasibility Tests. Journal of Medical Devices. 2014;8.
Smit G, Plettenburg DH, van der Helm FCT. Design and evaluation of two different finger concepts for body-powered prosthetic hand. Journal of Rehabilitation Research and Development. 2013;50(9):1253-66.
Smit G, Plettenburg DH. Comparison of mechanical properties of silicone and PVC cosmetic gloves for articulating hand prostheses. Journal of Rehabilitation Research and Development. 2013;50(5).
Smit G, Bongers RM, Van der Sluis CK, Plettenburg DH. Efficiency of voluntary opening hand and hook prosthetic devices: 24 years of development? Journal of Rehabilitation Research and Development. 2012;49(4):523-34.
Peerdeman B, Smit G, Stramigioli S, Plettenburg D, Misra S, editors. Evaluation of pneumatic cylinder actuators for hand prostheses. BioRob 2012; 2012; Rome.
Tolou N, Smit G, Nikooyan AA, Plettenburg DH, Herder JL. Stiffness Compensation Mechanism for Body Powered Hand Prostheses with Cosmetic Covering. Journal of Medical Devices, Transactions of the ASME. 2012;6(1).
Smit G, Plettenburg DH. Efficiency of voluntary closing hand and hook prostheses. Prosthetics and Orthotics International. 2010;34(4):411-27.

Conference Proceedings

Smit G, LeBlanc MA, Plettenburg DH. Hydraulic transmission applied to body powered upper limb prostheses, as an alternative to the Bowden cable. ISPO World Conference 2015; 22-25 June; Lyon, France 2015.
Smit G, Tosunoğlu S. Objective Outcome Measuring, Design of a Portable Low-Budget Data Aquistition System. Myoelectric Controls Symposium 2014; 18-22 August; Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada 2014.
Smit G, Plettenburg DH. A Hydrauliccally Actuated Prosthetic Hand. 4rd Dutch Conference on Bio-Medical Engineering; 24-25 January; Egmond aan Zee, The Netherlands 2013.
Smit G, Plettenburg DH. Design of a Hydraulic Hand Prosthesis, with Articulating Fingers. Myoelectric Controls Symposium 2011; 14-19 August; Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada 2011.
Plettenburg DH, Hichert M, Smit G. Feedback in voluntary closing arm prostheses. MEC 2011; Fredericton, Canada. Fredericton: University of New Brunswick; 2011.
Plettenburg DH, Nieuwendijk J, Smit G. A New Voluntary Closing Hook Prosthesis. Myoeletric Controls Symposium 2011; 14-19 August; Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada 2011.
Plettenburg DH, Smit G. Voluntary Closing Prostheses, An answer to user needs. Myoeletric Controls Symposium 2011; 14-19 August; Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada 2011.
Smit G, Plettenburg DH. Hydraulic Actuation for an Energy Efficient Hand Prosthesis. 3rd Dutch Conference on Bio-Medical Engineering; 20-21 January; Egmond aan Zee, The Netherlands 2011.
Tolou N, Smit G, Nikooyan AA, Plettenburg DH, Herder JL. Stiffness Compensation in Hand Prostheses with Cosmetic Coverings Using Statically Balanced Mechanisms. In proceeding of ASME 2010 Design of Medical Devices (DMD) Conference; Apr 13-15; Minneapolis, MN 2010.
Smit G, Plettenburg DH. Mechanical Performance of Voluntary Closing Hand and Hook Prostheses. 13th ISPO World Congress; Leipzig 2010.
Smit G, Plettenburg DH. A voluntary closing adaptive hand prosthesis. 2009 GMSI Summer Camp; Jul 29 – Aug 1, 2009; Yuzawa Town, Niigata, Japan 2009.

Publications

Solving medical problems through nature’s ingenuity