Anatomy and biology

Most professions and realms of knowledge have specialized vocabulary that is taken for granted in their respective circles. Manuvr's members all have biology knowledge, and when dealing with parts of hands, we try to retain as strict an anatomical convention as we can for clarity's sake.

So for the benefit of those reading (whom we assume to be of an engineering bent), here are some words that are not normally used by programmers.

  • Digit: A finger.

  • Pollex: The thumb.

  • Phalanx: One of (usually) three bones that comprise a digit. Anatomically, the thumb has two phalanges (plural), but because of its unique articulation, we consider it as having three as do the other digits. Manuvr's motion-capture glove has one IMU position at each phalanx, for a total of 15 positions.

  • Carpals / Carpus: The collection of bones comprising the wrist, and comprises a single IMU position.

  • Metacarpals / Metacarpus: The collection of bones that connect the carpals to the phalanges. These make up the palm, are poorly-articulated, and are treated as a single IMU position.

  • Distal: More-distant from the body's center-line.

  • Proximal: Closer to the body's center-line.

  • Intermediate: Between proximal and distal. :-)

  • Dorsal / Ventral: Back and front, respectively.

  • Sinistral / Dextral: Left and right, respectively. More-generally, these are descriptions of chirality that are applicable outside of anatomy.

Manuvr specific

This is a list of words that the Manuvr team has found a need to define. They are being given here, because discussion of ManuvrOS as well as its in-source commentary may use these words idiosyncratically.

  • Digitabulum (noun): Latin for glove. The internal name of Manuvr's motion-capture glove.

  • Manuvrable (noun): A device running ManuvrOS. Typically this implies a peer-to-peer communication style and at least one core purpose specific to the device. IE, A Manuvrable light switch would have the core purpose: (dis/en)able the lights.

  • Legend (noun): A special type of data that allows peers to parse and comprehend dynamic or application-specific data sets. Analogous to the legend on a paper map.

Pupose-specific acronyms

In our documentation (and some of our public postings) we short-hand sensor positions. PP3 would be the "proximal phalanx of the third digit". We always refer to digits by their anatomical numbering scheme, where the thumb is always digit 1, and the pinky is always digit 5. So any given digit will have a PP, IP, and a DP. Proximal, intermediate, and distal.