Some have heralded multi-touch interaction as the technology to drive computing systems into the future. But as we move towards a world where interaction is based on human body movement that are not well documented or studied, we risk creating technology and systems that may lead to musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs). This is not a hypothetical but a real danger. In the past devices such as keyboards have led to MSDs, yet many new systems make no effort to avoid gestures that are known to lead to musculoskeletal disorders or to eliminate gestures that are symptomatic of a patient population. With multi-touch interfaces currently being considered for adoption by companies and academia, it is now more critical than ever that good design practices incorporating preventive approaches be implemented in the initial stages of product design and development. In this research, the PI and his interdisciplinary team that includes experts in human-computer interaction, kinesiology and ergonomics will evaluate the effect of multi-touch interaction on the musculoskeletal system and provide mechanisms for developing safe multi-touch systems that involve interactions designed to cause minimal musculoskeletal stress and risk. Project outcomes will include best practices and standards for interaction that are safe yet allow users to fully benefit from the new levels of immersion that multi-touch interaction affords. In particular, the PI will develop a toolkit that will allow multi-touch designers to input a gesture movement and evaluate its induced stress in a variety of situations and under different variables. In addition, the software will allow input of formal definitions of HCI tasks and some choices of gestures, and will suggest a set of suitable gestures for the task based on the given choices. To achieve these goals, the PI will explore new formal models of human-computer interaction that take multi-touch interaction into account at both the cognitive and psychomotor levels.
Broader Impacts: This research will provide multi-touch interaction researchers with valuable new models and tools that focus not on a particular application area but rather on the generic technique of multi-touch interaction and design. The new biomechanical models will also contribute to our fundamental understanding of the functioning of our hands. Project outcomes will be generalizable to other emerging types of input devices, such as the Nintendo Wii remote.
