Effect of Low-Amplitude Oscillation Applied to the Control Device of a Tracking Operation

Abstract

In order to find a stimulus that improves tracking operation accuracy, low-amplitude oscillation was applied to two types of control device (a grip type and a steering wheel) in a tracking simulation. The tracking operation was as follows: The target cursor moves side to side at a fixed velocity. Subjects control the device with the aim of making the control cursor follow the target cursor. The velocity of the target cursor was set at either a low or a high velocity. The separation between the target cursor and the control cursor (the tracking error) was used to evaluate the task performance. Three oscillation stimuli were used: sin waves of 10, 20, and 40 Hz, each at three different amplitude levels. A no-stimulus experiment was used as a control. In the slow cursor, the tracking error was significantly reduced with the 20 Hz oscillation compared to the control (p < 0.05). In the fast cursor, no stimulus improved the accuracy of the tracking operation. On the other hand, the tracking error was significantly increased with the 10 Hz oscillation in comparison to the control (p < 0.01). These results suggest that an oscillation of 20 Hz could improve the accuracy of tracking in the slow target. The oscillation of 20 Hz could affect the protagonistic muscles of the operation, and could improve sensitivity of the muscle spindles by stochastic resonance phenomenon. As a result, the devices were operated more accurately and the tracking errors were decreased.