Elbow-anchored Arm Gesture Control Reducing Shoulder Fatigue
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Solution Overview
Problem
User interfaces based on body gestures often require rigid body postures, leading to arm fatigue and impracticality in various settings, as they involve intensive shoulder movement, which existing solutions fail to address biomechanically and ergonomically.
Innovation Solution
The implementation of elbow-anchored arm gestures, which utilize forearm movements and shoulder rotation, reducing shoulder involvement by determining a three-dimensional arm vector from the elbow to the wrist to control user interfaces, allowing for more flexible interactions and reducing arm fatigue.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If conventional mid-air arm interactions are used, then the user can interact with the interface, but intensive shoulder movement causes arm fatigue
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the biomechanical parameters of arm interaction by shifting the rotation axis from the shoulder joint to the elbow joint. This parameter change in joint engagement transforms the movement pattern from shoulder-dominant to elbow-dominant, reducing the mechanical stress and muscle fatigue on the shoulder while maintaining interaction capability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extracts the shoulder joint from the primary movement chain by anchoring the arm at the elbow. This separates the shoulder from the intensive rotational movement, isolating it from the harmful mechanical stress while allowing the elbow and forearm to handle the interaction forces.
2Measurement precision
If rigid body postures are required for gesture recognition, then gesture-based control is achieved, but body flexibility is constrained
Solution Approach 1:
The patent transitions from static, rigid posture requirements to dynamic, flexible posture acceptance. By focusing on elbow-anchored gestures, the system adapts to natural arm movements regardless of overall body posture, allowing users to interact while sitting, standing, or moving without maintaining fixed positions.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent segments the arm into distinct functional zones: the elbow as the anchored pivot point, the forearm as the gesture execution segment, and the upper arm/shoulder as the non-critical support segment. This segmentation allows precise gesture detection at the elbow-wrist level while tolerating variability in shoulder and torso positioning.
3Adaptability or versatility
If full arm gestures involving shoulder movement are used, then the interaction range is increased, but gorilla arm syndrome is caused
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces the elbow joint as an intermediary anchor point between the shoulder and wrist. This intermediary serves as a stable pivot that mediates the interaction forces, allowing the forearm to execute gestures without transmitting excessive stress to the shoulder, thereby preventing gorilla arm syndrome while maintaining interaction versatility.
Data Source
AI summary
User interface control based on elbow-anchored arm gestures is disclosed. In one aspect, there is provided a method of user interface control on a computing device based on elbow-anchored arm gestures. A visual user interface (VUI) screen is displayed on a display of a computing device. The VUI screen comprises a plurality of VUI elements arranged in a plurality of VUI element levels. Each VUI element level comprising one or more VUI elements. A spatial location of an elbow of an arm of a user and a spatial location of a wrist of the arm of the user are determined. A three-dimensional (3D) arm vector extending from the spatial location of the elbow to the spatial location of the wrist is then determined. A VUI element in the VUI screen corresponding to the 3D arm vector is then determined based on a predetermined 3D spatial mapping between 3D arm vectors and VUI elements for the VUI screen.