Investigating the Cursor Movement Parameters for Haptic Assistance of Motion-impaired Users

Langdon, Patrick; Hwang, Faustina; Keates, Simeon; Clarkson, p. John; Robinson, Peter

Abstract

Following a pilot study that suggested that force-feedback gravity wells could, under certain conditions, lead to 20- 50% improvements in time to target in a selection task, a series of experiments further investigated the potential for enhancement of user interfaces for disabled computer users by the use of haptic feedback modulated on the basis of cursor position. Two experiments are reported examining (1) the effect of size of attractive basins in adjacent targets on time to target in a point and click selection task and (2) the effect of presence of four different types of forcefeedback channels between start point and target on times to select a target. It was found that the presence of adjacent attractive basins was not disruptive of navigation to target, and that haptic force channels may only decrease times for those with high degrees of impairment. Cursor trace analysis suggested that the increased attraction force and range counteracts the disruptive effect of inappropriate cursor capture for the overlapping basins and that inappropriate ballistic movements were suppressed by channels for some of the impaired users but that channels may have had no effect on overshoot errors in these cases.

• Presentation Conference Type: Conference Paper (Published)
• Conference Name: ICORR '2001 7th International Conference on Rehabilitation Robotics
• Start Date: Apr 25, 2001
• End Date: Apr 27, 2001
• Publication Date: 2001
• Deposit Date: Feb 6, 2019
• Publisher: IOS Press
• Volume: 9
• Pages: 237-242
• Series Title: Assistive Technology Research Series
• Series ISSN: 1383-813X
• Book Title: Integration of Assistive Technology in the Information Age: ICORR '2001, 7th International Conference on Rehabilitation Robotics
• ISBN: 9781586031718
• Keywords: cursor movement, haptic assistance, motion-impaired users, medical Informatics, rehabilitation, assistive technology,
• Public URL: http://researchrepository.napier.ac.uk/Output/1497545
• Additional Information: This research is funded in part by the EPSRC, the Canadian Cambridge Trust, and NSERC.