A grasping task is composed of three phases: pregrasp phase, static grasp phase, and manipulation phase. The first step in recognizing a grasping task is to identify the grasp itself (within the static grasp phase).
We propose to identify the grasp by means of a grasp representation called the contact web which is composed of a pattern of effective contact points between the hand and the object. We also propose a grasp taxonomy based on the contact web to systematically identify a grasp. Results from grasping experiments show that it is possi ble to distinguish between various types of grasps using the proposed contact web and grasp taxonomy.