Summary

Research on grasping kinematics has proved to be particularly insightful in revealing important aspects of the motor control and selection processes underlying the control of hand action. The aim of this chapter is to provide a synthetic overview of the main kinematic techniques which have been utilized for describing and quantifying grasping movements. The first part of the chapter includes a brief description of the basic kinematic principles. The second part focuses on the main techniques used to perform kinematic analysis of grasping movements. Specifically, it describes video, optoelectronic, and sensor bending techniques. The third part is concerned with a brief review of studies which have characterized the kinematics of grasping not only in healthy adults but also in developmental, neuropsychological and comparative research. We conclude the chapter by discussing recent research issues and technical approaches which have recently started to emerge.

Introduction

Interest in the kinematic analysis of grasping was largely stimulated by the work of Marc Jeannerod who identified how specific kinematic landmarks modulate with respect to object properties to allow for both successful hand positioning and object grasping (Jeannerod, 1981, 1984). Since these early observations, this movement has been well characterized in those with no neurological damage. For subjects with central nervous system damage kinematic assessment allows a complete description of dysfunction and consequently assists with diagnosis and design of appropriate therapeutic regimes.