HCC: Medium: A Toolkit to Evaluate the Effect of Multitouch Interaction on the Musculoskeletal System and Design Safe Multitouch Systems

有些人已经预示着多点触摸交互技术将推动计算系统走向未来。 但是，随着我们走向一个互动基于人体运动的世界，而这些运动没有得到很好的记录或研究，我们有可能创造出可能导致肌肉骨骼疾病（MSD）的技术和系统。 这不是一个假设，而是一个真实的危险。 在过去，诸如键盘之类的设备导致了MSD，然而许多新系统没有努力避免已知会导致肌肉骨骼疾病的手势或消除患者群体的症状手势。 随着多点触摸界面目前正在考虑采用的公司和学术界，它现在比以往任何时候都更加重要的是，良好的设计实践，包括预防方法，在产品设计和开发的初始阶段实施。 在这项研究中，PI和他的跨学科团队，包括人机交互，运动学和人体工程学专家，将评估多点触摸交互对肌肉骨骼系统的影响，并为开发安全的多点触摸系统提供机制，这些系统涉及旨在引起最小肌肉骨骼压力和风险的交互。 项目成果将包括安全的交互最佳实践和标准，同时允许用户充分受益于多点触摸交互提供的新的沉浸感。 特别是，PI将开发一个工具包，允许多点触摸设计师输入手势运动，并在各种情况下和不同变量下评估其诱导应力。 此外，该软件将允许输入HCI任务的正式定义和一些手势选择，并将根据给定的选择为任务建议一组合适的手势。 为了实现这些目标，PI将探索新的人机交互的正式模型，考虑到多点触摸交互在认知和心理层面。更广泛的影响：这项研究将提供有价值的新模型和工具，重点不是在一个特定的应用领域，而是在多点触摸交互和设计的通用技术的多点触摸交互研究人员。 新的生物力学模型也将有助于我们对手部功能的基本理解。 项目成果将推广到其他新兴类型的输入设备，如任天堂Wii遥控器。

Some have heralded multi-touch interaction as the technology to drive computing systems into the future. But as we move towards a world where interaction is based on human body movement that are not well documented or studied, we risk creating technology and systems that may lead to musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs). This is not a hypothetical but a real danger. In the past devices such as keyboards have led to MSDs, yet many new systems make no effort to avoid gestures that are known to lead to musculoskeletal disorders or to eliminate gestures that are symptomatic of a patient population. With multi-touch interfaces currently being considered for adoption by companies and academia, it is now more critical than ever that good design practices incorporating preventive approaches be implemented in the initial stages of product design and development. In this research, the PI and his interdisciplinary team that includes experts in human-computer interaction, kinesiology and ergonomics will evaluate the effect of multi-touch interaction on the musculoskeletal system and provide mechanisms for developing safe multi-touch systems that involve interactions designed to cause minimal musculoskeletal stress and risk. Project outcomes will include best practices and standards for interaction that are safe yet allow users to fully benefit from the new levels of immersion that multi-touch interaction affords. In particular, the PI will develop a toolkit that will allow multi-touch designers to input a gesture movement and evaluate its induced stress in a variety of situations and under different variables. In addition, the software will allow input of formal definitions of HCI tasks and some choices of gestures, and will suggest a set of suitable gestures for the task based on the given choices. To achieve these goals, the PI will explore new formal models of human-computer interaction that take multi-touch interaction into account at both the cognitive and psychomotor levels.Broader Impacts: This research will provide multi-touch interaction researchers with valuable new models and tools that focus not on a particular application area but rather on the generic technique of multi-touch interaction and design. The new biomechanical models will also contribute to our fundamental understanding of the functioning of our hands. Project outcomes will be generalizable to other emerging types of input devices, such as the Nintendo Wii remote.