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USED SCIENCE HARDWARE:
- SUIT Container 1
- SUIT Container 2
- SUIT Return Pouch
- ETD, SAMPLE, SUIT pouch
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PURPOSES:
- Study the role of tactile signals in the sensor
system determining spatial orientation.
- Develop a tactile support system for the astronaut
that improves safety, performance and comfort.
OBJECTIVE:
Use of vibrotactile suit to present the information
on orientation behavior to the astronaut.
A vibrotactile suit consists of small vibrating elements
attached to the torso in a matrix form. The localised
vibration of an element is directly mapped to the
body co-ordinates, which makes it an intuitive and
fast way to present spatial information such as directions.
For activation of the vibrotactile array built in
the suit, information from the gyroscopes with two
degrees of freedom attached to the suit is used. The
interaction with the suit is provided by using the
control panel, which is worn on the left arm of the
participant. The SUIT experiment hardware is powered
by a battery power supply. The experiment data is
recorded on replaceable flash cards.
Each experiment session consists of two phases of
activities: first phase ("orientation")
is a standard orientation task battery, in the second
phase ("daily life") the participant performs
his normal duties while wearing the suit.
In phase "daily life" the astronaut works
independently and performs some activities, which
are not related to the experiment. The suit registers
the movements of the participant and provides orientation
or not. It is necessary to get an understanding of
the positive and negative effects of the suit support
in an operational setting (while performing daily
activities).
EXPERIMENT RESULTS:
Data recorded on flash memory cards, and answers
with comments of the experiment participant recorded
on dictaphones.
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