Assessment of a virtual reality-based haptic simulation for motor skill training
This study investigated the utility of types and formats of presentation of haptic and visual interfaces as part of a virtual reality (VR)-based simulator for training psychomotor skill development. The overarching goal of the research is to advance the state of VR-based haptic simulation design for motor rehabilitation applications. The haptic-control interface functions and visual aids were designed, prototyped and tested for use in the context of a Block Design (BD) reconstruction task, based on the Wechsler Abbreviated Scale for Intelligence. Testing was to identify features that might accelerate motor learning. An experiment was conducted in which healthy subjects were trained in the BD task, and observations were made on nondominant hand performance to simulate minor motor impairment. Training effects were measured with the Rey-Osterreith Complex Figure reproduction test before and after three BD training sessions. Participants were assigned to one of three groups, including performance of the native BD task, use of a basic VR simulation of the task, or an augmented VR simulation with additional visual and haptic aiding. Results revealed a significant improvement in post-test performance over pre-test for the augmented VR training. In general, the study supports integrating haptic control in VR for psychomotor skill training. It also provides useful information for future haptic VR simulation design.
