Determination of structural characteristics of an object

A method for determining structural characteristics of an object, comprising:

• providing a device comprising:
• a housing having an open front end, a longitudinal axis and at least one contact portion adapted to contact an object;
• an energy application tool mounted inside said housing, said energy application tool having a resting configuration and an active configuration;
• a drive mechanism supported inside said housing, said drive mechanism being adapted for activating said energy application tool to move between said resting and active configurations via an electromagnetic coil;
• and
• an inclinometer adapted to provide input to a control mechanism by measuring an inclination of said energy application tool relative to a horizontal orientation;
• positioning said device to contact said object via said at least one contact portion;
• and
• activating said device to move said energy application tool from said resting configuration to said active configuration to produce a measurement, said inclinometer providing said input to said control mechanism corresponding to said inclination of said energy application tool to initiate a selection by said control mechanism of a preset value of energy to be applied to said energy application tool via said drive mechanism, wherein said preset value of energy is selected from a stored collection of values;
• wherein said preset value of energy utilized causes said energy application tool to impact said object with an impact force which is approximately equal regardless of said inclination of said energy application tool within a predefined range of operation.