Resumo: Durante o período de escolarização, algumas crianças podem apresentar dificuldades na coordenação motora, principalmente em habilidades manuais, e podem ser identificadas como tendo Transtorno do Desenvolvimento da Coordenação (TDC). Existem evidências na literatura que déficits nos mecanismos de controle e precisão para produção de força/torque dos dedos estejam associados às dificuldades motoras nessas crianças. Assim, como a produção de força/torque é essencial para inúmeras atividades da vida diária, o presente estudo teve como objetivo principal investigar o efeito da prática no desempenho de crianças com TDC e com desenvolvimento típico (DT). Participaram do estudo, 24 crianças com idade entre 9 e 10 anos. A tarefa praticada foi a de preensão digital em torque com feedback visual. As crianças foram incentivadas a manter, durante 15 segundos, de forma contínua e constante, 25% do torque voluntário máximo. A prática foi feita durante cinco dias consecutivos, com realização de 15 tentativas por dia. Após a prática com feedback visual, as crianças foram incentivadas a realizar cinco tentativas na condição sem feedback visual. Nestas tentativas, o feedback visual era removido após 5 segundos do início da tentativa. Os resultados demonstraram que nos cinco dias de prática as crianças com DT foram consistentemente mais precisas em manter o controle de torque do que as crianças com TDC. As crianças de ambos os grupos melhoraram o desempenho no decorrer das sessões de prática evidenciado pela redução do coeficiente de variação e da dispersão média do erro...(Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: During the first years in school, children can show motor coordination difficulties mainly in manual skills and they can be identified as shown Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD). There is evidence from the literature that deficits in the mechanisms of accuracy and control in the finger production of strength/torque are associated with the motor difficulties of these children. The production of strength/torque is essential for a large number of daily activities so that the effect of practice of grip torque among DCD children and those shown typical development (DT) was the main objective of the present study. Participants were 24 children aged between 9 and 10 years. Children were asked to keep control of torque in a continuous and constant way with visual feedback (25% of maximum voluntary torque) during a period of 15 seconds. Practice was given during five consecutive days with 15 trials per day. After the practice with visual feedback, children were asked to perform five trials without visual feedback. In these trials, feedback was removed five seconds after the start of the trial. The results showed during the five days of practice that children with DT were consistently more accurate in keeping torque control than those with DCD. Children from both groups improved the level of performance as practice took place shown reduction of the coefficient of variation and of error (RMS). In relation to the trials without visual feedback, DCD children were not able to perform at the same level as they did when visual feedback was available...(Complete abstract, click electronic access below) / Orientador: Ana Maria Pellegrini / Coorientador: Cynthia Y. Hiraga / Banca: José angelo Barela / Banca: Márcio Alves de Oliveira / Mestre

No description available.

Autonomous mobile robots are on the rise and are to be expected on the market in about 5-10 years. Several challenges need to be solved for this to happen, and the most crucial ones are to develop versatile and safe robots. The Get a Grip robot is a dynamic force adjustment gripper using inputs from two different sensory systems. The construction of the robot consists of two parallel gripper plates moved by a rack and pinion gear attached to a direct current (DC) motor. Embedded into one of the plates is a Force Sensitive Resistor (FSR) for input of the gripper’s exerted force. Mounted to the other plate is a self constructed Slip sensor used for measuring the occurrence of slip and slip rate. A surrounding crane for mounting of the gripper and lifting was also constructed. The idea of this bachelor’s thesis project is to enable lifting of objects with unknown weight without the gripper exerting more force than necessary. This is something that will be useful in both industrial applications and in household robots in the future. In order to realize the concept two different methods for calculating the gripper’s applied force were tested, one using motor current and the other using a FSR sensor. Through testing it was concluded that the FSR sensor was the method giving better accuracy and consistency. Proportional–Integral–Derivative (PID) controllers were then tested for both setting force references for the gripper using the Slip sensor as input, and controlling the exerted force in the gripper using the FSR as input. The results led to two PID controllers thought to be sufficient as starting points for further testing of the complete system. / Mobila autonoma robotar förväntas vara på marknaden inom de närmaste 5-10 åren. För att det här ska ske är det många utmaningar som behöver lösas och de mest kritiska är att utveckla mångsidiga och säkra robotar. Get a Grip-roboten är en dynamisk kraftanpassande robotklo som tar insignaler från två olika sensorsystem. Konstruktionen består av två parallella plattor som förflyttas av kuggstänger och kugghjul drivna av en DC motor. Inbyggt i en av kloplattorna finns en tryckkänslig kraftsensor (FSR) monterad för att registrera kraften som klon genererar. På den andra kloplattan sitter en egenkonstruerad glidsensor som registrerar om glidning sker och själva glidhastighet. En kran för att montera klon och lyfta den konstruerades även. Idén bakom detta kandidatexamens projektet är att klon ska kunna lyfta ett objekt med okänd vikt utan att använda mer kraft än nödvändigt. Det är något som kommer vara användbart både vid industriella tillämpningar och hos husållsrobotar i framtiden. För att realisera konceptet testades två olika metoder för att estimera kraften klon genererar, den första genom motorströmmen och den andra genom en FSR sensor. Tester genomfördes för båda metoderna och slutsatsen blev att FSR sensorn gav bäst noggrannhet och var mest konsekvent. PID-regulatorn, för bestämning av kraftreferens, med insignal från glidsensorn och PID-regulatorn, för genererad klokraft, med insignal från FSR:n testades separat. Resultatet blev två PID-regulatorer som ansågs tillräckliga för fortsätta tester med båda regulatorerna tillsammans.

Des recherches récentes démontrent que les normes nord-américaines de construction et de dimensionnement des ponts sous-estiment les efforts engendrés lors de collisions de camions ou de barges avec un pont. La majorité des recherches sont menées par modélisations, puisque l’étude d’une collision pleine échelle est très coûteuse. Afin de mener des recherches au sujet des charges d’impact pour l’étude des mécanismes d’endommagement ainsi que des méthodes de réhabilitation, il serait intéressant qu’une méthode d’essai en laboratoire soit développée. Une façon innovatrice de reproduire ces charges serait de procéder par des tests hybrides en temps réel avec un vérin hydraulique dynamique pour l’application des charges. Or, les charges d’impact sont caractérisées en force et le contrôle en force des vérins hydrauliques dynamiques en boucle fermée cause problème. La problématique est due à une faible stabilité de contrôle en boucle fermée ainsi qu’une faible précision des charges appliquées. Ces problèmes peuvent être évités par l’ajout d’un mécanisme flexible entre le vérin et la structure à tester. La déflexion du mécanisme est utilisé comme rétroaction pour contrôler le vérin. En connaissant la rigidité du mécanisme et en contrôlant sa déflexion, un contrôle indirect en force peut être accompli selon la loi de Hooke. Le projet présenté dans ce mémoire consiste à développer et à optimiser un tel mécanisme d’une capacité de [plus ou moins] 50 kN. Son effet sur la stabilité et la performance de la boucle de contrôle est étudié par modélisation et par essais en laboratoire, sa conception et ses principes de fonctionnement sont décrits, son comportement sous sollicitation statique et dynamique est analysé et discuté. Les résultats obtenus montrent l’excellent comportement du prototype sous chargement statique et dynamique ainsi que l’amélioration des performances de contrôle en force avec un vérin hydraulique.

La dextérité manuelle est au centre de notre interaction physique avec le monde. La sophistication des mouvements des doigts chez l’homme nécessite le contrôle de plusieurs composants clés comme la force, l’indépendance, le timing et le séquençage des mouvements des doigts. La dextérité est souvent affectée dans de nombreuses pathologies impactant l’indépendance et la vie quotidienne des patients. Le but global de cette thèse est d’améliorer la rééducation de la dextérité chez ces patients par une meilleure mesure et compréhension de la dextérité et de ses composants. Nous avons développé le Finger Force Manipulandum (FFM), un outil permettant de quantifier les principaux composants de la dextérité chez des sujets sains et des patients. Afin de valider cet appareil, nous avons testé la faisabilité de son utilisation chez des patients souffrant d’un important déficit de dextérité après un accident vasculaire cérébral. Le FFM permet, chez ces patients (N= 10 vs N= 10 sujets sains), de quantifier les différents composants de la dextérité et d’identifier des déficits dans chacun d’entre eux (exemple : les patients font trois fois plus d’erreur que les témoins pour le contrôle de force ; P=0,0002). Les mesures sont plus sensibles que certains tests cliniques comme l’ARAT : elles permettent de détecter des déficits de la dextérité même chez des patients atteignant le score maximum de l’ARAT. Le FFM permet également de créer un profil de dextérité affectée chez chaque patient permettant ainsi de détecter quel composant est significativement affecté et permet aussi de suivre la récupération. Dans une maladie affectant légèrement la dextérité, comme la schizophrénie, lorsque l’on compare les scores FFM des patients stabilisés (N= 35) avec ceux des témoins (N= 20) on constate que les patients ont une performance diminuée de façon significative dans chacun des quatre composants de la dextérité. Certaines des mesures du FFM corrèlent avec des échelles cliniques comme la PANSS (R=0,53, P=0,0019) mais aussi avec des échelles neuropsychologiques. Ces mesures FFM sont également assez sensibles pour détecter une évolution au cours du temps : certains composants restent stables après une remédiation cognitive alors que d’autres s’améliorent. En conclusion, le FFM est un nouvel outil qui permet de quantifier les différents composants de la dextérité. Il est utilisable même chez des patients avec un important déficit manuel et permet d’identifier des profils individuels de dextérité affectée. Il est également assez sensible pour détecter de faibles diminutions de performances motrices comme celles retrouvées chez des patients schizophrènes et pourrait permettre d’identifier certains marqueurs moteurs ayant trait au background neuro-développemental des patients schizophrènes (détection précoce) et à l’évolution de la maladie. / Manual dexterity is essential for our physical interaction with the world. The high degree of dexterity in humans requires sophisticated control of several key components such as the control of force, of independence, timing and sequencing of finger movements. Manual dexterity is affected in various pathologies, impacting activities of daily living and leading to loss of independence. The main purpose of this thesis is to improve rehabilitation of dexterity in these patients by a better behavioral quantification and a clearer understanding of manual dexterity and its components of control. We developed the Finger Force Manipulandum (FFM), a new tool allowing for the quantification of the main components of the dexterity in healthy subjects and in patients. To validate this device, we tested the feasibility of its use with stroke patients suffering from moderate-to-severe deficits of dexterity. In these patients, the FFM allowed for quantification of four components of dexterity and for identification of deficits in each of them (example: patients (N=10) made three times more error than controls (N=10) in force control; P=0.0002). These measures (components) are more sensitive than clinical tests, such as the ARAT: patients reaching the maximum ARAT score still showed deficits of dexterity with the FFM. Based on the four FFM scores, individual profiles of affected dexterity were calculated, highlighting the individual deficit of each patient. This allowed for quantitative longitudinal follow up during recovery. In a disease affecting dexterity mildly, such as schizophrenia, the FFM scores of stabilized patients (N = 35) indicated a significantly lower performance compared to control subjects (N = 20) in each of the four dexterity components. Some of the FFM measures correlated with clinical scales, such as the PANSS (R=0.53, P=0.0019), and also with some neuropsychological scales. These FFM measures also provide indicators for the evolution of dexterity over time: certain components remained stable after cognitive remediation, while others improved. In conclusion, the FFM is a new tool, which allows for quantification of manual dexterity (by measuring various underlying components). It is suitable for patients with moderate-to-sever manual deficits and allows for identification of individual profiles of affected dexterity. It also detects minor manual deficits in schizophrenic patients, and may allow for identification of potential behavioral markers related to the neurodevelopmental background of schizophrenic patients (early detection) and to the evolution of the disease.

The Department of Energy national laboratories, like Los Alamos National Lab or Sandia National Lab, perform work on radioactive and chemically dangerous materials. Gloveboxes are often used to shield workers from these hazards, but they cannot completely eliminate the danger and often create new safety concerns due to reduced operator dexterity and ergonomic posture. When feasible, robots can be employed to remove the human from the radioactive hazard; allowing them to analyze the situation and make decisions remotely. Force sensor data from the manipulator can be used to simplify the control of these remote systems as well as make them more robust. Much research has been done to develop force and torque control algorithms to introduce compliance or detect collisions. Many of these algorithms are very complicated and currently only implemented in research institutions on torque-controlled manipulators. The literature review discusses many such controllers which have been developed and/or demonstrated. This thesis reviews, develops, and demonstrates several beneficial algorithms which can be implemented on commercially-available kinematically-controlled robots using commercially-available sensors with a reasonable investment of time. Force data is used to improve safety and manage contact forces while kinematically controlling the robot, as well as improve the world model. Safety is improved by detecting anomalous and/or excessive forces during operation. Environmental modeling data is inferred from position and/or force data. A six-axis sensor and joint torque sensors on 2 7DOF manipulators are used to demonstrate the proposed algorithms in two DOE relevant applications: remotely opening an incompletely modeled cabinet door and moving a robot in a confined space. / text

In advanced robot applications, the challenge today is that the robot should perform different successive subtasks to achieve one or more complicated tasks similar to human. Hence, this kind of tasks required to combine different kind of sensors in order to get full information about the work environment. However, from the point of view of control, more sensors mean more possibilities for the structure of the control system. As shown previously, vision and force sensors are the most common external sensors in robot system. As a result, in scientific papers it can be found numerous control algorithms and different structures for vision/force robot control, e.g. shared, traded control etc. The lacks in integration of vision/force robot control could be summarized as follows: • How to define which subspaces should be vision, position or force controlled? • When the controller should switch from one control mode to another one? • How to insure that the visual information could be reliably used? • How to define the most appropriated vision/force control structure? In many previous works, during performing a specified task one kind of vision/force control structure has been used which is pre-defined by the programmer. In addition to that, if the task is modified or changed, it would be much complicated for the user to describe the task and to define the most appropriated vision/force robot control especially if the user is inexperienced. Furthermore, vision and force sensors are used only as simple feedback (e.g. vision sensor is used usually as position estimator) or they are intended to avoid the obstacles. Accordingly, much useful information provided by the sensors which help the robot to perform the task autonomously is missed. In our opinion, these lacks of defining the most appropriate vision/force robot control and the weakness in the utilization from all the information which could be provided by the sensors introduce important limits which prevent the robot to be versatile, autonomous, dependable and user-friendly. For this purpose, helping to increase autonomy, versatility, dependability and user-friendly in certain area of robotics which requires vision/force integration is the scope of this thesis. More concretely: 1. Autonomy: In the term of an automatic decision system which defines the most appropriated vision/force control modes for different kinds of tasks and chooses the best structure of vision/force control depending on the surrounding environments and a priori knowledge. 2. Versatility: By preparing some relevant scenarios for different situations, where both the visual servoing and force control are necessary and indispensable. 3. Dependability: In the term of the robot should depend on its own sensors more than on reprogramming and human intervention. In other words, how the robot system can use all the available information which could be provided by the vision and force sensors, not only for the target object but also for the features extraction of the whole scene. 4. User-friendly: By designing a high level description of the task, the object and the sensor configuration which is suitable also for inexperienced user. If the previous properties are relatively achieved, the proposed robot system can: • Perform different successive and complex tasks. • Grasp/contact and track imprecisely placed objects with different poses. • Decide automatically the most appropriate combination of vision/force feedback for every task and react immediately to the changes from one control cycle to another because of occurrence of some unforeseen events. • Benefit from all the advantages of different vision/force control structures. • Benefit from all the information provided by the sensors. • Reduce the human intervention or reprogramming during the execution of the task. • Facilitate the task description and entering of a priori-knowledge for the user, even if he/she is inexperienced.

Κατά τις υβριδικές δοκιμές δύσκαμπτων κατασκευών, παρουσιάζονται σημαντικά προβλήματα όταν αυτές διεξάγονται με έλεγχο της μετακίνησης των υδραυλικών εμβόλων. Καθ’ ότι στις υβριδικές δοκιμές η δύναμη αντίδρασης σε κάθε βήμα χρησιμοποιείται για την εύρεση της μετακίνησης του επόμενου, το οιοδήποτε λάθος μέτρησής της (εγγενές στις δύσκαμπτες κατασκευές), δρα σωρευτικά οδηγώντας σε αμφιβόλου αξιοπιστίας αποτελέσματα. Επιπροσθέτως, σε πολλές περιπτώσεις δοκιμών δύσκαμπτων κατασκευών παρουσιάζονται φαινόμενα αλληλεπίδρασης μεταξύ των εμβόλων που δυσχεραίνουν τη διεξαγωγή τους. Λύση στο πρόβλημα των δοκιμών δύσκαμπτων κατασκευών μπορεί να δοθεί εφόσον η διεξαγωγή τους γίνεται σε έλεγχο δύναμης αντί της μετακίνησης. Αυτό όμως προϋποθέτει την προγενέστερη γνώση των δυνάμεων που θα επιβληθούν από τα έμβολα σε κάθε βήμα. Οι επικρατέστερες προσεγγίσεις για την εύρεση των δυνάμεων κάθε βήματος βασίζονται είτε στον προσδιορισμό του εφαπτομενικού μητρώου δυσκαμψίας, ή σε διαδοχικές προσεγγίσεις. Στην παρούσα μελέτη παρουσιάζεται μία καινοτόμος προσέγγιση η οποία αποφεύγει τον προσδιορισμό του εφαπτομενικού μητρώου δυσκαμψίας. Χρησιμοποιούνται δύο ελεγκτές PID (αντί για έναν όπως γίνεται συνήθως) για τον έλεγχο κάθε εμβόλου. Ο πρώτος μετατρέπει την στοχευόμενη μετακίνηση σε στοχευόμενη δύναμη, ενώ ο δεύτερος είναι υπεύθυνος για τον έλεγχο του εμβόλου με βάση τη δύναμη που προέρχεται από τον πρώτο. Επίσης, με την υιοθέτηση αυτής της στρατηγικής (στρατηγική διπλού τύπου ελεγκτή) σε συνδυασμό με τη συνεχή ψευδοδυναμική μέθοδο αποφεύγονται οι διαδοχικές προσεγγίσεις που μπορούν να οδηγήσουν σε παρασιτικούς κύκλους φόρτισης – αποφόρτισης. Η εγκυρότητα της στρατηγικής ελέγχθηκε με υβριδικές δοκιμές σε δύσκαμπτο δοκίμιο οπλισμένου σκυροδέματος μεγάλης κλίμακας. Το δοκίμιο χρησιμοποιήθηκε και για την αξιολόγηση της στρατηγικής για την εφαρμογή της σε απλές κυκλικές δοκιμές. Τέλος, παρουσιάζεται το σύστημα τηλεπαρακολούθησης του Εργαστηρίου Κατασκευών, το οποίο αναβαθμίζει το σύστημα ελέγχου δοκιμών και συνδράμει αφενός στη διασφάλιση της ποιότητας των δοκιμών και αφετέρου στη διάχυση των παραγόμενων αποτελεσμάτων στην επιστημονική κοινότητα. / Hybrid simulation of stiff structures encounters significant difficulties when relying on the displacement control of hydraulic actuators. The reason being that in hybrid tests the restoring force in each step is used to calculate the displacement of the next step; therefore a potential error in the calculation (intrinsic in the case of stiff structures) has a cumulative effect, leading to results of questionable validity. Furthermore, in many cases interaction between actuators hinders the execution of tests of stiff structures. A solution to this problem encountered when testing stiff structures may be given if tests are conducted in force control rather than displacement control. This, however, presupposes that the forces to be applied by actuators in each step are known beforehand. Dominant approaches in terms of calculating forces in each step are either based on the secant stiffness matrix, or on iterations. The present doctoral thesis introduces an innovative approach which bypasses the secant stiffness matrix calculation. Two PID controllers are used (instead of one, which is the standard practice) in order to control each actuator. The first controller converts the target displacement to target force, whilst the second one controls the actuator based on the force calculated by the first controller. Moreover, when combining this strategy (dual type control strategy) with the continuous pseudodynamic method, iterations that may lead to unwanted loading-unloading cycles are avoided. The validity of the proposed strategy was assessed by conducting hybrid tests on a large-scale stiff reinforced concrete specimen. The same specimen was also used to assess the application of the strategy to cyclic tests. Lastly, the telepresence system of the Structures Laboratory is presented, which upgrades the test control system and at the same time contributes to the quality of testing and to the distribution of results to the scientific community.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:22:51Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2008-06-30Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T19:28:17Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 diz_mar_me_rcla.pdf: 260196 bytes, checksum: 25afce4afc679e6814f683ef7d1aaffa (MD5) / Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) / Durante o período de escolarização, algumas crianças podem apresentar dificuldades na coordenação motora, principalmente em habilidades manuais, e podem ser identificadas como tendo Transtorno do Desenvolvimento da Coordenação (TDC). Existem evidências na literatura que déficits nos mecanismos de controle e precisão para produção de força/torque dos dedos estejam associados às dificuldades motoras nessas crianças. Assim, como a produção de força/torque é essencial para inúmeras atividades da vida diária, o presente estudo teve como objetivo principal investigar o efeito da prática no desempenho de crianças com TDC e com desenvolvimento típico (DT). Participaram do estudo, 24 crianças com idade entre 9 e 10 anos. A tarefa praticada foi a de preensão digital em torque com feedback visual. As crianças foram incentivadas a manter, durante 15 segundos, de forma contínua e constante, 25% do torque voluntário máximo. A prática foi feita durante cinco dias consecutivos, com realização de 15 tentativas por dia. Após a prática com feedback visual, as crianças foram incentivadas a realizar cinco tentativas na condição sem feedback visual. Nestas tentativas, o feedback visual era removido após 5 segundos do início da tentativa. Os resultados demonstraram que nos cinco dias de prática as crianças com DT foram consistentemente mais precisas em manter o controle de torque do que as crianças com TDC. As crianças de ambos os grupos melhoraram o desempenho no decorrer das sessões de prática evidenciado pela redução do coeficiente de variação e da dispersão média do erro... / During the first years in school, children can show motor coordination difficulties mainly in manual skills and they can be identified as shown Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD). There is evidence from the literature that deficits in the mechanisms of accuracy and control in the finger production of strength/torque are associated with the motor difficulties of these children. The production of strength/torque is essential for a large number of daily activities so that the effect of practice of grip torque among DCD children and those shown typical development (DT) was the main objective of the present study. Participants were 24 children aged between 9 and 10 years. Children were asked to keep control of torque in a continuous and constant way with visual feedback (25% of maximum voluntary torque) during a period of 15 seconds. Practice was given during five consecutive days with 15 trials per day. After the practice with visual feedback, children were asked to perform five trials without visual feedback. In these trials, feedback was removed five seconds after the start of the trial. The results showed during the five days of practice that children with DT were consistently more accurate in keeping torque control than those with DCD. Children from both groups improved the level of performance as practice took place shown reduction of the coefficient of variation and of error (RMS). In relation to the trials without visual feedback, DCD children were not able to perform at the same level as they did when visual feedback was available...(Complete abstract, click electronic access below)

Made available in DSpace on 2016-12-06T17:07:25Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Daniela.pdf: 2419593 bytes, checksum: 894152ce479aae16445a360b52fda72a (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010-03-03 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / This study investigated the effect of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (CTS) on hand function. It was analyzed the parameters of the grip force and their associations with the characteristics of CTS; and also, the control of the grip force in individuals with CTS during functional tasks and the effect of muscle fatigue and the object‟s weight. It was evaluated 13 women with CTS (GE) and 13 without STC (GC) aged 43.54 ± 7.70 and 43.23 ± 7.89, respectively. The GE was assessed by the symptoms severity and functional status (Boston Questionnaire for CTS), the threshold of tactile sensibility and the manual dexterity (Moberg test). The maximal voluntary grip force was evaluated using a dynamometer. The parameters of the grip force analyzed were: maximal grip force (Fmax), time do reach the maximal grip force (TFmax), force rate (TDF) and area under the curve force-time (AFmax). To analyze the grip force control, the subjects performed two functional tasks while an object (instrumented with force sensor and triaxial accelerometer) was manipulated: i) drinking to bring the object close to the mouth and ii) "transition" - to lift the object 11 times sequentially and to leave it on the table after 5 s; in the trials 6-8, the object‟s weight was increased; therefore, the trials without object‟s additional load (average of 1-5, OBJP1) and the second lift with object‟s additional load (OBP2) were compared. The parameters analyzed were: peak of the velocity (Pvel), time lag (DT), peak of the grip force (PFP), mean of the grip force in movement‟s acceleration (Fac) and deceleration (Fdc) and safety margin (MS). The subjects performed the functional tasks before the fatigue protocol (FAD1) and with the muscles fatigued (FAD2). At group‟s comparison, the GE showed lower values of Fmax, TDF and AFmax and higher TFmax. There were high and moderate associations between TFmax and the characteristics of the GE and a moderate association between manual dexterity and the parameters of the grip force. The temporal parameters (Pvel and DT) were not affected by the CTS, fatigue and object‟s weight. Before the fatigue protocol, the GE applied higher PFP than the GC (drinking task); furthermore, both groups increased the PFP and the MS (transition task) while lifting the object with additional load. When the subjects performed the tasks with fatigued muscles, it was found a decreased of Fdc for the GE (drinking task) and also of PFP and MS for both groups (transition task); there was no difference on PFP between OBJP1 and OBJP2 for the GE. The analysis of the parameters of the grip force was useful to detect the muscle function impairments in CTS. It was identified that the TFmax might be the best parameter to indicate these changes. Moreover, it is suggested that the sensibility of the fingertips is important to avoid the excessive grip forces in functional tasks and that the manipulation of the objects with muscles of prehension fatigued may increase the likelihood of accidental slips, especially in individuals with CTS. / Este estudo investigou efeito da Síndrome do Túnel do Carpo (STC) na função manual. Foram analisados os parâmetros da força de preensão e suas associações com as características da STC, bem como o controle da força de preensão de indivíduos com STC em tarefas funcionais e o efeito causado pela fadiga e peso do objeto. Foram avaliadas 13 mulheres com STC (GE) e 13 sem STC (GC) com idade de 43,54 ± 7,70 e 43,23 ± 7,89 anos, respectivamente. O GE foi classificado quando à gravidade dos sintomas e estado funcional (Questionário de Boston para STC), o limiar de sensibilidade tátil e a destreza manual (Teste de Moberg). Foi realizado teste de força de preensão voluntária máxima em um dinamômetro. Os parâmetros da força de preensão analisados foram: força de preensão máxima (Fmax), tempo para atingir a força de preensão máxima (TFmax), taxa de desenvolvimento da força de preensão (TDF) e área sob a curva força-tempo (AFmax). Para análise do controle da força de preensão os indivíduos manipularam um objeto (instrumentado com sensor de força e acelerômetro triaxial) em duas tarefas funcionais: i) beber - levar o objeto até próximo à boca e ii) transição - realizar 11 levantamentos seqüenciais do objeto e reposicioná-lo sobre a mesa após 5 s, sendo que seu peso era aumentado nas repetições 6-8; foram comparadas as tentativas sem peso adicional do objeto (média 1-5, OBJP1) e o segundo levantamento com peso adicional (OBJP2). Os parâmetros analisados foram: pico da velocidade (Pvel), diferença temporal (DT), pico da força de preensão (PFP), média de força de preensão na aceleração (Fac) e desaceleração (Fdc) do movimento e margem de segurança (MS). Os indivíduos realizaram as tarefas funcionais antes de um protocolo de fadiga (FAD1) e com os músculos da preensão fadigados (FAD2). Os parâmetros da força de preensão foram diferentes entre grupos. GE mostrou menores valores de Fmax, TDF e AFmax e maior TFmax do que o GC. Foram encontradas associações moderadas e altas entre o TFmax e características do GE e moderada entre destreza manual e os parâmetros da força de preensão. Os parâmetros Pvel e DT não foram alterados pela STC, fadiga e peso do objeto. Antes do protocolo de fadiga, o GE aplicou maior PFP do que o GC (tarefa beber); ao levantar o objeto com peso adicional, ambos os grupos aumentaram o PFP e a MS (tarefa transição). Com os músculos fadigados, houve decréscimo da Fdc para GE (tarefa beber) e do PFP e da MS (tarefa transição) para ambos os grupos; o GE não mostrou diferença do PFP entre OBJP1 e OBJP2. A análise dos parâmetros da preensão apresentou-se útil para detectar prejuízo da função muscular na STC. Foi identificado que o TFmax pode ser o melhor parâmetro para indicar este comprometimento. Além disso, sugere-se que a sensibilidade é importante para evitar forças de preensão excessivas em tarefas funcionais e que a manipulação de objetos com músculos da preensão fadigados pode aumentar a probabilidade de deslizes acidentais, especialmente em indivíduos com STC.