Abstract
The Activities of Daily Living (ADLs) describe the essential daily actions performed by older persons in undertaking everyday chores. The ADLs frequently involve interactions with equipment, tools, and appliances to facilitate independence in one’s senior years. Industrial designers often generate this equipment and thus, it is desirable for designers to have a thorough understanding of the range of hand grasp postures employed by older persons, particularly when they are afflicted with declining dexterity. This review synthesises the knowledge that is available in the literature concerning human hand grasp taxonomies, and to identify how existing studies can aid and inform future research into hand grasps, particularly of older persons with arthritis of the hand. The review includes a search of human hand grasp taxonomies by using search engines such as Google Scholar, Academia, and Research Gate and searches of journals that are available at two university library databases. Titles reviewed include those related to the fields of industrial design, ergonomics, biomechanics, gerontology, rheumatology, osteoarthritis, hand surgery, rehabilitation, physiotherapy and occupational therapy. Robotic hands (mechanical engineering or mechatronics), artificial and prosthetic limbs, and haptic technology are also included as they are disciplines that investigate the normal function of the human hand as the benchmark for assistive device design. The results of the exploratory literature review are presented in a tabulated format and will support future research design concerning the methods and instruments used to gather data to inform new product development.
Presenters
Karen YévenesStudent, PhD postgraduate student, University of Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia Eddi Pianca
Industrial Design Decipline lead, Faculty of Arts and Design, University of Canberra, ACT, Australia Elivio Bonollo
Emeritus Professor, University of Canberra, Australia
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
Activities of daily living, Ageing, Hand grasp taxonomy, Industrial design
