Make a robotic hand
You’ll need
- Tape
- Scissors
- Cardboard or thick paper
- Paper straws
- String or wool
Before you begin
- Use the safety checklist to help you plan and risk assess your activity. There's also more guidance to help you carry out your risk assessment, including examples.
- Make sure all young people and adults involved in the activity know how to take part safely.
- Make sure you’ll have enough adult helpers. You may need some parents and carers to help.
Planning and setting up this activity
- You may want to make an example to show everyone.
At Scouts, we follow the social model of disability. The social model of disability is a way of viewing the world, developed by disabled people. The model says that people are disabled by barriers in society, not by their impairment or difference. Barriers can be physical, such as buildings not having accessible toilets or not having access to an BSL interpreter. Or they can be caused by people's attitudes to difference, such as people assuming disabled people can't do certain things.
The social model helps us recognise barriers that make life harder for disabled people. Removing these barriers creates equality and offers disabled people more independence, choice and control.
You can find out more about the social model of disability on Scope's website.
Remember, although we'll use certain wording, in-line with the social model, it'll vary from person to person on how people view or describe their own disabilities. It's important to take the person's lead, and use the words that they use if you're having a conversation about disability.
Running this activity
- Gather everyone together and ask if anyone knows what prosthetic device is. A prosthetic device is used to replace a missing body part. For example, if someone loses an arm or a leg or is born without an arm or leg or another part of the body, they might get a prosthetic device to replace what's missing. It can also be known as an artificial limb or prosthesis.
- Ask if anyone knows how a prosthetic hand or arm is and how it might work. A prosthetic arm, or upper limb prosthesis, is an artificial replacement for your natural arm. It can replace part or all your upper limb, from your hand, wrist and forearm to your elbow, upper arm and shoulder. Prosthetic arms can be passive, such as a mannequin arm, or high-tech, such as a robotic arm. They’re a type of assistive technology that can allow people regain the ability to move their fingers and perform everyday tasks.
- Tell everyone you’re all going to make a robotic hand to see how they might work.
- Give out the equipment. People can make a robotic hand each, in pairs or in small groups as needed.
- Place your hand and upper arm on a piece of cardboard or thick paper, then trace around it with a pencil. You should include your wrist and forearm.
- Use scissors to carefully cut out the hand shape. This will be the base of your robotic hand. You may want to leave a small gap around the edge of the hand.
- Use the pencil to mark where your finger joints bend (knuckles, middle joints, and tips). Draw lines across the fingers on the cardboard where these bends are.
- Gently bend the cardboard along the lines you drew for the joints. This will allow the fingers to move like a real hand. Use a ruler to help you bend them, so you don't bend the fingers too far and break them.
- Take some paper straws. Cut each straw into smaller pieces, about the length of each finger section. For example, you’ll need three pieces for each finger (one for each section between the joints).
- Tape or glue the straw pieces onto the fingers of the cardboard hand, leaving gaps where the joints bend. Make sure the straws are in a straight line down each finger.
- Cut a longer piece of straw and tape or glue them under each finger on the palm of the hand.
- Next, cut five pieces of string or wool, making each one longer than the finger it will control.
- Thread each string through the straw pieces of a finger and the palm. Leave one end of the string hanging out at the tip of the finger and the other end hanging off the bottom of the hand.
- Tie a knot or tape the string or wool at the tip of each finger so it stays in place.
- Cut a strip of cardboard and tape it to the end of the arm to make a handle. This’ll help you be able to hold the robotic hand.
- Tie the string or wool at the bottom of the hand into little loops to make finger holds.
- Put your hand through the handle and put your fingers in the loops.
- Pull on the strings to watch the fingers curl and move. Try pulling different strings to make your robotic hand grab or point.
Reflection
This activity was all about learning how prosthetics work and how technology can help disabled people. Have you ever seen someone using a prosthetic hand or arm? How did it work? How do you think having a prosthetic could change someone's daily life? What was the most surprising thing you learned about how prosthetics can help people do things like write or play sports?
Can you think of other ways technology, like our robotic hand, could be used to help people in your community? Did anything about the activity surprise you, or make you think differently about how we can support disabled people?
Safety
All activities must be safely managed. You must complete a thorough risk assessment and take appropriate steps to reduce risk. Use the safety checklist to help you plan and risk assess your activity. Always get approval for the activity, and have suitable supervision and an InTouch process.
You must run your activities in line with the Safeguarding Code of Conduct for Adults (Yellow Card) and report any concerns to the UK HQ Safeguarding Team.
- Sharp objects
Teach young people how to use sharp objects safely. Supervise them appropriately throughout. Store all sharp objects securely, out of the reach of young people.
- Scissors
Supervise young people appropriately when they’re using scissors. Store all sharp objects securely, out of the reach of young people.
Crafting with younger sections
Be well prepared, with everything ready before you begin. Make sure equipment and materials are age appropriate. Make sure small objects are not put in mouths, ears and noses. Remind young people not to put anything in their mouth and wash hands regularly.
- To make this activity easier, you could precut all the hands and straws into the correct sizes and shapes. People could use thick darning needle or plastic child-safe needle to help them thread the straws.
- To make this activity harder, you could show the young people a completed hand and ask them to work out how to construct it themselves.
- You could offer templates, give a demonstration of what to do and provide pre-cut materials, as needed.
- Make sure to have accessible equipment or methods available, such as left-handed tools, tearing instead of cutting out, or thicker materials for easier grip.
- Some people might struggle with using scissors. Make sure to provide scissors everyone can use, such as left-handed, tabletop scissors, loop scissors or easy grip scissors. You could provide pre-cut materials too.
- Make sure there’s enough time for everyone to try the activity a few times, and have plenty of adults available for support. You could run the activity over multiple sessions and have backup activities for early finishers, so everyone can work at their own pace.
- Knot tying and threading can be tricky. To make it easier, people can use larger, thicker materials that are easier to handle, such as thicker thread, larger straws or plastic needles. You could pre-do some of the fiddly parts, such as threading needles. Taping down one side of the string or using pegs to hold items in place can help.
- Make sure there’s enough time for everyone to try the activity a few times, and have plenty of adults available for support. You could run the activity over multiple sessions and have backup activities for early finishers, so everyone can work at their own pace.
All Scout activities should be inclusive and accessible.
