Effects of assembling virtual fixtures on learning a navigation task.
An approach to enhance navigation task performance is to integrate sensory guidance (virtual fixtures) into a virtual training system. To evaluate the effects of adding virtual fixtures to skill acquisition, 32 subjects were required to use a PHANToM input device, to transport a virtual object through a computer generated 3-D graphic maze. Subjects practiced navigation under 4 conditions: the maze was augmented with either a graphic fixture (G), attractive force field (F), both graphic and force field (GF), or no (N) virtual fixture. Fifteen practice trials were given before subjects were transferred to a situation with no virtual fixtures. Results showed that the implementation of the force field assisted task performance during practice; however, it failed to show positive transfer effects. In contrast, adding a graphic fixture to the virtual maze helped subjects to define the optimal pathway throughout navigation, which facilitated skill acquisition.
Zheng
Bin
B
Schoosl of Kinesiology and Engineering Science, Simon Fraser University, Canada.
Kuang
Alex
A
Henigman
Frank
F
Payandeh
Shahram
S
Lomax
Alan
A
Swanström
Lee
L
Mackenzie
Christine L
CL
D003198:Computer Simulation; D004501:Education, Medical; D006801:Humans; D009048:Motor Skills; D014584:User-Computer Interface