Dispelling the Gorilla Arm Syndrome: The Viability of Prolonged Gesture Interactions

The use of gestures as a way to interact with computer systems has shown promise as a natural way to interact and manipulate digital information. However, users performing mid-air gestures for even moderate periods of time experience arm fatigue and discomfort, earning its name of the gorilla arm syndrome. Based on the natural use of hands during communication, a new gesture vocabulary was created that supports the arms while the user performs the gestures. A repeated measures within subject design was conducted where participants interacted with a custom video game using 3 types of input for 30 min each, (1) keyboard, (2) mid-air gestures and (3) supported gestures. Three measures of exertion were collected, (1) time, (2) energy expenditure, and (3) perceived exertion. The newly designed supported gestures required significantly less physical and perceived effort than the mid-air gestures and required similar exertion as the keyboard condition.

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