Abstract
Hand posture prediction is an important means of assessing specific task designs prior to subject user trials or actual production. The objective of this study was to estimate the effect of a set of task variables on the observation of hand actions during hose installation tasks in automotive assembly operations. From video recordings of 51 jobs, 124 hand actions were identified. Of these, 50 grasping postures, 70 pinching postures and four non-prehensile postures were observed as the dependent variables. Chi-Square tests revealed significance (p<0.0001) for posture by hose size and posture by hand force (p=0.0007). The use of grasping postures increased significantly when force levels exceeded 40% of maximum. The results support the idea that hand posture is primarily influenced by the size of the object being handled and the amount of force required for performing the task. The results are necessary to further develop taxonomies of grip for predicting hand posture.
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