Effects of Vertical Land-Vehicle Ride Motion on Human Reach Performance and Perceived Task Difficulty

Abstract

Vehicle motions can adversely affect the ability of an operator to quickly and accurately reach for targets located inside vehicles. Although previous ergonomic studies investigated human performance during reach tasks, few of them considered effects of non-stationary working environments. This lack of knowledge is a problem, as ergonomic guidelines are not currently available for the design of land-based vehicle interiors. The present study aims to assess the effects of vertical vehicle ride motion on accuracy, movement completion time, and perceived difficulty rating during target-directed reaching tasks. The Ride Motion Simulator (RMS) at the US Army Tank-automotive and Armaments Command (TACOM) was used to simulate vertical vehicle motion with various discrete frequencies and kinematic reach movement data for two subjects were recorded using a VICON motion capture system. Movement completion time for reaches, accuracy in pointing tasks, and perceived difficulty ratings were found to be adversely affected by vertical vehicle motions.