Grasp sensing for human-computer interaction

The way we grasp an object depends on several factors, e.g. the intended goal or the hand's anatomy. Therefore, a grasp can convey meaningful information about its context. Inferring these factors from a grasp allows us to enhance interaction with grasp-sensitive objects. This paper highlights an grasp as an important source of meaningful context for human-computer interaction and gives an overview of prior work from other disciplines. This paper offers a basis and framework for further research and discussion by proposing a descriptive model of meaning in grasps. The GRASP model combines five factors that determine how an object is grasped: goal, relationship between user and object, anatomy, setting, and properties of the object. The model is validated both from an epistemological perspective and by applying it to scenarios from related work.