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Computational Models and Analyses of Human Motor Performance in Haptic Manipulation

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2011, Doctor of Philosophy, Case Western Reserve University, EECS - Electrical Engineering.

Haptic interaction refers to interactivity with an environment based on the sense of touch. Haptics is a critical mode of human interface with real or virtual environments, as it is the only active form of perception. All other senses are passive and cannot directly act upon an environment.

Haptic interface devices connect users to real or virtual environments through the modality of touch and associated sensory feedback. As the user interacts with environments through the haptic system, it alters the user's perception and motor control, which can affect task performance. Therefore, understanding a haptic system's effects on the sensory-motor system and the implications of these interactions on task performance is important for the design of effective haptic interface systems.

This dissertation focused on characterization, modeling, and analysis of human motor performance in the context of stylus-based haptic interface devices. The current work combined human psychophysics experiments with analysis methods from system theory to model and study several aspects of human haptic interaction.

The first contribution of this work was the identification of 3D linear dynamics and variability models for the arm and hand configured in a stylus grip. The literature contains many human arm dynamics models, but lacks detailed associated variability analyses. Without them, variability is modeled in a very conservative manner, leading to less than optimal controller and system designs. The current work not only presented models for human arm dynamics, but also developed inter and intra-subject variability models from human experiments.

The second contribution of this work was the analysis of 3D point-to-point Fitts' reaching task in both real and virtual environments in order to determine the effect of visual field and haptic workspace co-location on task performance. A key finding was the significant decrease observed in end-point error for tasks performed in a co-located virtual environment. The results also confirmed cyclic performance degradations due to rotational visuo-haptic misalignments for a wide variety of task difficulties.

These findings expanded important understanding regarding the behavior of the human operator, which is arguably the most variable element in any haptic interface system.

M. Cenk Cavusoglu, PhD (Committee Chair)
Wyatt S. Newman, PhD (Committee Member)
Kenneth A. Loparo, PhD (Committee Member)
Wei Lin, PhD (Committee Member)
Roger D. Quinn, PhD (Committee Member)
130 p.

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Fu, M. J. (2011). Computational Models and Analyses of Human Motor Performance in Haptic Manipulation [Doctoral dissertation, Case Western Reserve University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=case1301929982

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Fu, Michael. Computational Models and Analyses of Human Motor Performance in Haptic Manipulation. 2011. Case Western Reserve University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=case1301929982.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Fu, Michael. "Computational Models and Analyses of Human Motor Performance in Haptic Manipulation." Doctoral dissertation, Case Western Reserve University, 2011. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=case1301929982

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)