The Impact of Altered Gravitation on Performance and Workload of Augmented Reality Hand-Eye-Coordination: Inside vs. Outside of Human Body Frame of Reference

Abstract

We investigated new interface technologies to ease astronaut0s work under altered gravity. By bridging the gap between the physical reality and digital information, Augmented Reality keeps the focus on the task to fulfill. It is important that the operation of such Augmented Reality supported assistant systems is adequate preserved in weightlessness. By distinguishing the interface alignment to the body and outside of the body, this paper presents a user study conducted to quantify and qualify the impact of altered gravity on sensorimotor hand-eye coordination related to the human body frame of reference. Taking the advantages of parabolic flights, we compared the performance of this alignment methods under normo- and altered gravity. Beside of verified effects of altered gravity on aimed pointing movements, the study showed a higher efficiency and decreased workload for the body aligned condition.