Validating the Performance of Haptic Motor Skill Training

The effect of haptic interfaces on motor skill training has been widely studied. However, relatively little is known about whether haptic training can promote long-term motor skill acquisition. In this paper, we report two experimental studies that investigated the effectiveness of visuohaptic (visual + haptic) interfaces in helping people develop short-term and long-term motor skills. Our first study compared training outcomes of visuohaptic training, visual training, and no-assistance training. We found that the training outcomes for the tested methods were similar when helping participants develop short-term motor skills. Our second experiment assessed the potential of visual training and visuohaptic training in promoting the development of long-term motor skills. Participants were trained during a four-day-long period. The results showed that the participants gained long-term skills through both training methods, and that the training outcomes for both methods were similar. The results also showed that visuohaptic training is a promising method, but that it needs to be further developed to be useful.