Monitoring Human Performance during Suited Operations: A Technology Feasibility Study Using Extravehicular Mobility Unit Gloves

Mobility tracking of human subjects while conducting suited operations still remains focused on the external movement of the suit and little is known about the human movement within. For this study, accelerometers and bend-sensitive resistors were integrated into a custom-carrier glove to quantify range-of-motion and dexterity from within the pressurized- glove environment as a first-stage feasibility study of sensor hardware, integration, and reporting capabilities. Sensors were also placed on the exterior of the pressurized glove to determine whether it was possible to compare a glove-joint angle to the anatomical-joint angle of the subject during tasks. Quantifying human movement within the suit was feasible, with accelerometers clearly detecting movements in the wrist and reporting expected joint angles at maximum flexion or extension postures with repeatability of ±5o between trials. Bend sensors placed on the proximal interphalangeal and distal interphalangeal joints performed less well than the accelerometers and did not reflect joint positions accurately. It was not possible to determine the actual joint angle using these bend sensors, but these sensors could be used to determine when the joint was flexed to its maximum and provide a general range of mobility needed to complete a task. Now that we understand the requirements and limitations of embedding hardware in the suit environment, further work includes additional testing with accelerometers and the possible inclusion of hardware such as magnetometers or gyroscopes to more precisely locate the joint in three-dimensional space. We hope to eventually expand beyond the hand and glove and develop a more comprehensive suit sensor suite to characterize motion across more joints (e.g., knee, elbow, shoulder, etc.) and fully monitor the human body operating within the suit environment.