Sensorimotor performance and haptic support in simulated weightlessness
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RESEARCH ARTICLE
Sensorimotor performance and haptic support in simulated weightlessness Bernhard Weber1 · Michael Panzirsch1 · Freek Stulp1 · Stefan Schneider2 Received: 19 May 2020 / Accepted: 27 July 2020 / Published online: 7 August 2020 © The Author(s) 2020
Abstract The success of many space missions critically depends on human capabilities and performance. Yet, it is known that sensorimotor performance is degraded under conditions of weightlessness. Therefore, astronauts prepare for their missions in simulated weightlessness under water. In the present study, we investigated sensorimotor performance in simulated weightlessness (induced by shallow water immersion) and whether performance can be improved by choosing appropriate haptic settings of the human–machine interface (e.g., motion damping). Twenty-two participants performed basic aiming and tracking tasks with a force feedback joystick under water and on land and with different haptic settings of the joystick (no haptics, three spring stiffnesses, and two motion dampings). While higher resistive forces should be avoided for rapid aiming tasks in simulated weightlessness, tracking performance is best with higher motions damping in both land and water setups, although the performance losses due to water immersion cannot be compensated. The overall result pattern also provides insights into the causal mechanism behind the slowing effect during aiming motions and decreased accuracy of tracking motions in simulated weightlessness. Findings provide evidence that distorted proprioception due to altered muscle spindle activity seemingly is the main trigger of impaired sensorimotor performance in simulated weightlessness. Keywords Aerospace simulation · Force feedback · Haptic interfaces · Sensorimotor performance · Weightlessness · Water immersion
Introduction During their space missions, astronauts have to perform delicate and demanding tasks reliably and precisely, under the adverse conditions of weightlessness. Prior research, however, repeatedly documented that human motor performance in weightlessness is degraded under certain conditions (Lackner and DiZio 2000; Manzey 2017). Impairments have been found across different elementary free motion tasks (e.g., aiming and tracking in dual-task paradigms) and force regulation (e.g., production of finely graded forces), which are most evident in the initial phase of exposition to Communicated by Francesco Lacquaniti. * Bernhard Weber [email protected] 1
German Aerospace Center, Institute of Robotics and Mechatronics, Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany
Institute of Movement and Neurosciences, German Sport University, Cologne, Germany
2
weightlessness (Hermsdörfer et al. 1999, 2000; Kanas and Manzey 2008). Three main explanations have been proposed for these sensorimotor impairments in weightlessness: (1) distorted proprioception due to altered muscle spindle activity, e.g., Bock (1998), (2) attentional deficits due to the general workload of space missions, e.g., Manzey et al. (2000), and (3) altered motor
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