人間工学に基づく姿勢調整のための方向性振動触覚フィードバックインターフェース
A Directional Vibrotactile Feedback Interface for Ergonomic Postural Adjustment
振動触覚デバイスErgoTacを用いて、作業中の姿勢を人間工学的に誘導する方向性フィードバックの3方式を開発し、比較実験で最適な方式を特定した上で、重量物運搬時の姿勢最適化に有効であることを示した論文。
著者: Wansoo Kim, Virginia Ruiz Garate, Juan M. Gandarias, Marta Lorenzini, Arash Ajoudani
分類: cs.HC, cs.RO
原文アブストラクト
The objective of this paper is to develop and evaluate a directional vibrotactile feedback interface as a guidance tool for postural adjustments during work. In contrast to the existing active and wearable systems such as exoskeletons, we aim to create a lightweight and intuitive interface, capable of guiding its wearers towards more ergonomic and healthy working conditions. To achieve this, a vibrotactile device called ErgoTac is employed to develop three different feedback modalities that are able to provide a directional guidance at the body segments towards a desired pose. In addition, an evaluation is made to find the most suitable, comfortable, and intuitive feedback modality for the user. Therefore, these modalities are first compared experimentally on fifteen subjects wearing eight ErgoTac devices to achieve targeted arm and torso configurations. The most effective directional feedback modality is then evaluated on five subjects in a set of experiments in which an ergonomic optimisation module provides the optimised body posture while performing heavy lifting or forceful exertion tasks. The results yield strong evidence on the usefulness and the intuitiveness of one of the developed modalities in providing guidance towards ergonomic working conditions, by minimising the effect of an external load on body joints. We believe that the integration of such low-cost devices in workplaces can help address the well-known and complex problem of work-related musculoskeletal disorders.
