In button trials, the passive resistance would impede a user from moving away from a button once the cursor came within a given proximity. In scroll-bar trials, the passive resistance would impede users from drifting off the bar once the thumb was aquired. In all three cases, the passive resistance improved targeting. A pilot study was performed on 5 test subjects. The mean results of each test are shown below.
Results indicate performance times in seconds for completing each of targeting tasks.
This pilot study confirms that force feedback is an effective means of enhancing manual interaction with graphical user interfaces and suggests that additional tests should be conducted. The effect of mechanical impedance on abnormal intention tremor. Proceedings of the 9th Annual Northeast Bioengineering Conference. Repperger, D.W., and Goodyear, C., Active Controllers and Time Duration to Learn a Task. Conference on Manual Control, 1985.