Average Power as A Measure of Dexterity in Generalized Tool Use

9213234高露洁今年是连续三年奖项的第二年资助。这个项目调查了一个与使用手工工具有关的假说，特别强调将任何已发现的设计原则应用于双边微操作器，如用于显微外科手术的那些，希望这些原则将加速这些工具和其他工具的进化设计和开发。要测试的假设是，优化给定任务的性能的手动工具是优化操作员的平均功率输出的工具，但不包括工具中消耗的功率。这一假设背后的概念是，一个设计良好的手工具有助于实现人与环境之间的阻抗匹配，从而实现快速有效的能量转移。虽然这一假设并没有否认信息处理的重要性，但它避免了使用一种信息传输的衡量标准，这可能很难在典型工具使用的非结构化任务中建立。这项研究是通过一个“虚拟工具系统”进行的，该系统由一个实时工具/环境模拟组成，它将力输出到图形显示器。一种用于模拟的新型计算机体系结构被用来实现实时速率。

9213234 Colgate This is the second year funding of a three year continuing award. This project investigates a hypothesis related to the use of hand tools, with particular emphasis on the application of any discovered design principles to bilateral micromanipulators such as those used in microsurgery, with the hope that these principles would accelerate the evolutionary design and development of these and other tools. The hypothesis to be tested is that the hand tool which optimizes performance of a given task is that which optimizes the average power output from the operator, excepting power that is dissipated in the tool. Underlying this hypothesis is the notion that a well-designed hand tool serves to effect an impedance match between the human and the environment, enabling quick and efficient energy transfer. While this hypothesis does not deny the importance of information processing, it avoids using a measure of information transmission, which can be difficult to establish in the unstructured tasks of typical tool use. The study is performed with a "virtual tool system" consisting of a real time tool/environment simulation which outputs forces to a graphics display. A novel computer architecture for simulation is used to achieve real time rates.