I hadn't even considered variable resistance. If you added springy limiters, you could probably just invert the numbers and add magnetic limiters, too, causing joints to snap into nearby positions as they get closer to them.
Also, I'd like to point out / compliment your work and say that "it'll be a while" for you guys is very different from other companies' "it'll be a while." For some people that points to an indefinite horizon, but you seem to plow through bugs/requests like it's nobody's business.