Design And Evaluation Of Upper-Arm Mouse Using Inertial Sensor For Human-Computer Interaction

Pointing devices commonly used today, including the modern computer mouse, can only be operated manually. For people with physical impairments, usage can be problematic due to a limited ability to operate such devices. Therefore, this study was inspired to conduct research on designing and evaluating an appropriate mouse-substitution system for individuals who are physically impaired. The design of the system uses an inertial measurement unit (IMU) that is a fusion of a gyroscope and an accelerometer sensor in which the sensor is attached to a user's upper arm to recognise physical gestures. Any gestures performed by the upper arm are then mapped and used to manipulate mouse cursor movements on computer devices. The design of the "clicking" method uses both an electromyograph (EMG) sensor and a bend sensor. This study evaluates two input devices; one is a combination of an IMU and an EMG sensor, and the other is an input device that is a combination of an IMU and a bend sensor. Fitts' Law formula and the ISO/TS 9241-411: Ergonomics of human-system interaction standard were used to evaluate quantitative performance and level of comfort. The quantitative results show that the average throughput (TP) of the first input device (2.30 bps) differs greatly, statistically, in comparison to the second input device (1.75 bps). Similarly, the average movement time (tm) revealed that there is a statistically significant difference between the first input device (1.98 s) and the second input device (2.67 s). The qualitative results show that the comfort levels of the first input device are superior to those of the second input device. It concludes that the combination of IMU and EMG as a pointing and clicking apparatus revealed better performance than the combination of IMU and bend sensor.