Modeling of Human Hand Force Based Tasks Using Fitts’s Law

Abstract

Conventional Fitts’s model for human movement task finds a common application in modern day interactive computer systems and ergonomics design. According to Fitts’s law the time required to rapidly move to a target area is a function of the distance to the target and the size of the target. This paper describes experimental process for prediction of minimum movement time, in a force-variation based human performance task involving right index finger. In this study we have made an attempt to extend the applicability of the conventional Fitts’s model for a force based virtual movement task, without taking position into account and evaluate human performance metrics for such tasks. An experiment was conducted in which 6 healthy young adult subject’s in the age group of 22–30 years performed force based movement tasks. During each trial, subjects were asked to reach an initial force bar of given thickness W Newtons, corresponding to allowable tolerance. Once the subject’s had reached initial level, they were instructed to reach out the target force bar of same thickness W as quickly as possible and bring it back to the initial force level bar, thereby completing 1 iteration. Time required for 10 such iteration was noted for each subject. The results from the experiment show that the relationship between movement time and index of difficulty for force tasks are well described by Fitts’s law in visual guided, force-based virtual movement task.