OBJECTIVE This study examined the influence ofpencil grasp on handwriting legibility during both short and long writing tasks in 46fourth-grade students who were typically developing. Matched samples were used to controlfor variability. METHOD Regular classroom writing assignments were scoredfor word and letter legibility, and scores were compared using a mixed repeated-measures analysis of v...

This paper describes a parallel, dynamic programming algorithm for computing the space of high quality , whole-hand grasps of a target object that match a given grasp prototype, or example grasp. The grasp prototype is used to deene a quality measure that allows the contacts of a grasp to be optimized independently. Link conngurations that achieve high quality contacts are identiied and chained...

OBJECTIVE Pencil grasps other than the dynamic tripod may be functional for handwriting. This study examined the impact of grasp on handwriting speed and legibility. METHOD We videotaped 120 typically developing fourth-grade students while they performed a writing task. We categorized the grasps they used and evaluated their writing for speed and legibility using a handwriting assessment. Usi...

We used a novel apparatus with three hinged finger pads to characterize collaborative multifinger interactions during dynamic manipulation requiring individuated control of fingertip motions and forces. Subjects placed the thumb, index, and middle fingertips on each hinged finger pad and held it-unsupported-with constant total grasp force while voluntarily oscillating the thumb's pad. This task...

Pencil Grasp Pattern: How Critical is it to Functional Handwriting? Heidi D. Schwellnus Doctor of Philosophy Graduate Department of Rehabilitation Science University of Toronto 2012 This thesis reports the results of a large study to evaluate the kinetics of pencil grasp patterns in terms of speed and legibility of handwriting of children in Grade 4. Current clinical practice as recent as 2008 ...

The general grasp planning problem has been studied in the academic community for decades. Developing efficient and versatile grasping systems has great implications in automating tasks that require dexterous and compliant manipulation. Traditional approaches tend to favor optimality over efficiency, producing grasping systems that are slow. I propose a new strategy that combines successful pro...

Stability is one of the important properties that a robot hand grasp must possess to be able to perform tasks similar to those performed by human hands. This paper discusses the dynamic stability of a grasped object. To analyze the stability of grasps, we build the model of the dynamics of the grasped object in response to the small perturbances. Furthermore, we determine the conditions associa...

We present a method for automatic grasp generation based on object shape primitives in a Programming by Demonstration framework. The system first recognizes the grasp performed by a demonstrator as well as the object it is applied on and then generates a suitable grasping strategy on the robot. We start by presenting how to model and learn grasps and map them to robot hands. We continue by perf...