Using MRT data to compute a hand kinematic model

Abstract

Even though there are many existing computational models of the kinematics of the human hand, none of them has the required precision sufficient to allow for rebuilding a model of the human hand. Embedded in a larger project in building a robotic arm mimicking the dynamics and kinematics of the human hand and arm, our goal is to obtain a detailed description of the kinematics of a human hand. The model is obtained from MR recordings of the bones of the hand, in a large number of different poses. The kinematic description should take all possible active, muscle-driven finger movements into account, including the complexity of the finger joints. The result of this model will be used in a simulation of the human hand, as well as a basis for reconstructing the hand as a robotic device.