The warning glove - development and evaluation of a multimodal action-specific warning prototype.

This paper has two objectives: first, to introduce the concept of multimodal action-specific warnings and its prototypic realization in the form of a warning glove and second, to present the main findings of a user study that was conducted to test the warning glove against a conventional warning system. Regarding the first goal, the combination of multimodality and action-specificity was implemented by attaching electronic actuators on a right-handed glove for transmitting visual, auditory and tactile feedback. For the second objective, a user study was conducted to test the hypothesis that the warning glove is capable of obtaining faster responses and to determine the perceptions of the users regarding the appropriateness of the warning glove. The results confirmed the assumption of faster response times and participants perceived the warning glove to be 'fairly appropriate'. These results warrant further development of this multimodal action-specific warning glove.

How can multimodality be used to design usable interfaces in IPS2 for older employees?

Main objective of the recently started collaborative research project SFB/TR29 B4 is to provide cross-generational assistance to human operators working in industrial product-service systems (IPS(2)). By combining the ideas of action-specificity and multimodality a more immediate and purposeful reaction towards warnings is assumed. For this purpose, an action-specific warning system in form of a glove has been developed. It provides either visual, auditory or haptic feedback or a combination of all modalities. In a first study this prototype was compared with a conventional warning system, where multimodal devices were directly mounted to the machine. The test scenario used in this study is the 'changing of a spindle' on a replica of a micro milling machine. It was conducted with 42 participants. The experimental design is a within-design in terms of the two warning systems and a between-design concerning the three modalities and its combinations. Results of the two-way ANOVA with repeated measures on both factors 'system' and 'modality' show a significant main effect for the 'modality' and a significant interaction effect between both factors. Especially the haptic warnings on the action-specific glove were described as "that kind of warning, which evokes the fastest response".