Determination of kinematically constrained multi-articulatedstructures

2139336 9401042 PCTABS00030 A system is provided for making kinematic determinations of multi-articulated structures by determining the spatial placement of two position sensing elements (PSE1, PSE2) and the kinematic constraints of the multi-articulated structure where the spatial placement of one of the links joining the position sensing elements is not directly measured. Also provided are preferred placements of position sensing elements (PSE's). Revolute joint models of the articulations of the entire human body, as well as preferred position sensing elements and goniometer locations are provided. An algorithm is provided for determining the joint angles for a finger modeled as a four-link planar manipulator with one position sensing element affixed to the fingertip and one position sensing element affixed to the metacarpus.