Y. Guiard, THE DISTAL-TO-PROXIMAL INCREASE OF LINK LENGTH ALONG THE HUMAN KINEMATIC CHAIN - AN EXPONENTIAL PROGRESSION OF WORK-SPACE EXTENSION, Annales des sciences naturelles. Zoologie et biologie animale, 18(4), 1997, pp. 151-156
The goal of this note is to report a gross anthropometric relationship
that relates quantitatively the length of links to their rank in the
distal-to-proximal succession of skeletal links in humans. This relati
onship, an exponential function, is conceptually simple, applies to a
satisfactory approximation to the whole kinematic chain from the level
of the finger to that of the whole extended body, and suffers low bet
ween-subject variability. Remarkably easy to assess empirically throug
h simple measurements, the relationship in question may be of interest
for theoretical biologists and roboticists.