Publication Date

2018

Document Type

Dissertation/Thesis

First Advisor

Chen, Gary

Second Advisor

Hwang, Jaejin

Degree Name

M.S. (Master of Science)

Legacy Department

Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering

Abstract

Virtual Environment pose certain potential postural discomfort or pain of the neck and shoulder that could be different from a real environment. There has been a lack of ergonomic guidelines for the Virtual Reality (VR) usage with the hand gesture interaction. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of the vertical target locations on biomechanical exposures of the neck and shoulder and task performance during VR interactions. Twenty subjects performed standardized pointing and painting tasks with five different target locations (15° upward, neutral, 15° downward, 30° downward, and self-selected). Users’ postures, gravitational moments, muscle activities of the neck and shoulder, and task performance were collected.

Results showed neutral to 15° downward target locations were most effective in reducing biomechanical exposures on the neck (neck sagittal angle, moment, muscle activities, and subjective discomfort) during VR interactions with virtual hand gestures. Neutral to 30° downward target locations were most effective in reducing biomechanical exposures on the shoulder (shoulder angles, moment, muscle activities, and subjective discomfort). The 30° downward and 15° upward target locations caused the greatest stress on the neck and shoulder, respectively. In sum, neutral to 15° downward target location could be effective in reducing postural stresses of both neck and shoulders during VR interactions with virtual hand gestures. Excessive target locations (15° upward and 30° downward locations) could be avoided to prevent discomfort and pain in the neck and shoulder areas.

Extent

59 pages

Language

eng

Publisher

Northern Illinois University

Rights Statement

In Copyright

Rights Statement 2

NIU theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from Huskie Commons for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without the written permission of the authors.

Media Type

Text

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