(a1–a3) Measured hand orientations; (b1–c3) metacarpophalangeal (MCP) index finger joint angle as a function of hand orientations (pitch, roll and yaw) for two different postures. (b1–b3) posture 1, flat hand; (c1–c3) posture 2, flexed fingers. Means, standard deviations, and variances were calculated for each of the 5 measurement sessions, and subsequently averaged over all sessions. Posture 1 is with a “flat hand”, MCP 0 deg and proximal interphalangeal (PIP) 0 deg joint angles; posture 2 is with flexed fingers, MCP 35 deg, PIP 55 deg. The thick (blue) line are the measured joint angles. At posture 1 (with MCP 0 deg) one would expect the measurement data as a function of changing hand orientation to be stable around 0 deg, and at posture 2 (with MCP 35 deg) stable around 35 deg. The dashed (green) lines are the measured variances. Vertical thick dashed lines (red) distinguish between stable and unstable orientation ranges, and the therein provided numbers are the mean variances for those ranges.