Human hand trajectory analysis in point-and-direct telerobotics

Human hand trajectories have been recorded and analyzed in an experimental supervisory control interface for a telerobot manipulator. Using a six degree-of-freedom tracking device to control the gripper of a computer graphics simulation model of the telerobot, human operators were instructed to command the telerobot under a variety of visual conditions. Analysis of the human hand trajectories shows considerable distortion and adaptation effects in the virtual environments. Also, the nature of the 3D hand trajectories for the reaching task lends support for a sampled-data model of human neurological control; this has design implications for telerobotic interfaces.