Paper Title
Fusion of Hard and Soft (AI) Control Strategies for a Smart Prosthetic/Robotic Hand

Abstract
There are now over 20 million people in the world with missing limbs resulting from combat and non-combat operations and by 2050 there will be 50 million amputees all over the world. The availability of artificial limbs will help these people to lead a better normal life. The overall goal of the research on Prosthetic Hand Technology is to develop a smart prosthetic hand using intelligent strategies for electromyographic (EMG) signal extraction, analysis, identification, kinematic synthesis, and embedded hierarchical real-time systems and control by fusion of soft computing and hard computing techniques. The presentation is based on Professor Naidu’s recent (2016-August-12) TED Talk (http://www.ted.com) on 3-D Printed Prosthetic Hand for the World (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXyy5XN2oY0) and his recent research book published in October 2017 by the IEEE Press - Wiley (Series on Systems Science and Engineering) titled, “Fusion of Hard and Soft Control Strategies for a Robotic Hand”. http://www.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-1119273595,subjectCd-EE30.html Keywords - Convergence of Life Sciences and Engineering, Robotic/Prosthetic Hand, Robotics and Technology, Biomedical Engineering, Optimal Control, Artificial Intelligence.