A virtual reality platform to evaluate the effects of supernumerary limbs' appearance.
Journal:
Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society. IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society. Annual International Conference
Published Date:
Jul 1, 2023
Abstract
Supernumerary robot limbs (SL) can expand the ability of users by increasing the number of degrees of freedom that they control. While several SLs have been designed and tested on human participants, the effect of the limb's appearance on the user's acceptance, embodiment and device usage is not yet understood. We developed a virtual reality platform with a three-arm avatar that enabled us to systematically investigate the effect of the supernumerary limb's appearance on their perception and motion control performance. A pilot study with 14 participants exhibited similar performance, workload and preference in human-like or robot-like appearance with a trend of preference for the robotic appearance.