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Journal of Undergraduate Research

Keywords

passive wrist stiffness, joint stiffness, wrist dynamics

College

Ira A. Fulton College of Engineering and Technology

Department

Mechanical Engineering

Abstract

The wrist plays a vital yet frequently overlooked role in positioning and supporting the hand during activities of daily living. Particularly during low-level activities (such as typing), passive joint stiffness dominates wrist dynamics and constitutes the main obstacle to motion. In spite of its importance, however, little consensus exists as to the exact range of passive wrist stiffness. Reported values vary from as little as 0.002 Nm/rad (Lehman & Calhoun, 1991) to as many as 9.0 Nm/rad (Crisco et al, 2010), a span of three orders of magnitude! The purpose of this research is to determine an approximate single-order-of-magnitude range for passive wrist stiffness (Nm/rad) in the four cardinal directions using as many independent techniques as possible.

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