The Effect of Pressurized Space Gloves on Operability of Cursor Controls, Mobility, and Strength

Abstract

Space Human Factors Engineering (SHFE) researchers at Johnson Space Center (JSC), in collaboration with the Extravehicular Activity (EVA) Suit Team, performed a glove box study investigating operability of cursor controls, mobility, and strength of the participants while wearing pressurized gloves. Performance time was collected under a range of glove pressures (0, 0.8, 4.3, 6.3, and 8.1 psid), as well as bare-handed. Controls tested included a Castle switch, Rocker switch, and Trackball. The study was undertaken to determine impacts of operating controls under higher than nominal (i.e., > 4.3 psid) suit pressures. Operability when using cursor control devices was tested with an interactive software task representative of the types of actions that will be required to interact with space vehicle displays (display navigation and selection of a target). Results indicate that cursor control devices can be operated at pressures up to 8.1 psid, albeit with some difficulty. With respect to mobility, increased pressure seemed to affect thumb mobility more than the fingers. As the number of participants was limited in this initial feasibility study, further studies should be performed with a larger number of participants to evaluate performance with different hand/glove sizes, as well as with alternative device designs that are more ergonomically flexible and forgiving of hand and finger dimension changes brought on by increases in pressure. Results from this study may have implications for other gloved task environments.