Embodiments determine positioning of a mannequin. One such embodiment begins by determining a frame of a grasping element of a mannequin represented by a computer-aided design (CAD) model and determining a frame of an object to be grasped, where is object is also represented by a CAD model. To continue, degrees of freedom of the mannequin are specified and limits on the specified degrees of freedom are set. In turn, using an inverse kinematic solver, positioning of the mannequin grasping the object is determined based upon: (i) the determined frame of the grasping element, (ii) the determined frame of the object, (iii) the specified degrees of freedom, and (iv) the set limits on the specified degrees of freedom.