Human Performance of Three Hands in Unimanual, Bimanual and Trimanual Tasks

Abstract

Trimanual operation using a robotic supernumerary limb is a new and challenging mechanism for human operators that could enable a single user to perform tasks requiring more than two hands. Foot-controlled interfaces have previously proven able to be intuitively controlled, enabling simple tasks to be performed. However, the effect of going from unimanual to bimanual and then to trimanual tasks on subjects performance and coordination is not well understood. In this paper, unimanual, bimanual and trimanual teleoperation tasks were performed in a virtual reality scene to evaluate the impact of extending to trimanual actions. 15 participants were required to move their limbs together in a coor..