Performance and Posture Evaluation of Ergonomic Keyboard

인간공학적 키보드의 수행도 및 자세 평가에 관한 연구

The objective of this research is to review the ergonomic keyboard developed to prevent musculo-skeletal disorders from being occurred during keyboard work. It was studied by comparing it with the traditional keyboard after analyzing and comparing the typing performance and work advantages both the two keyboards. Twelve male subjects with no history of musculo-skeletal disorders participated in the experiment. The quantitative data such as typing speed, accuracy, performance time, and the number of typing errors were obtained from the HTT software that was adjusted for this experiment. RULA worksheet and the degrees of extension and ulnar deviation on right and left wrist were used to analyze the upper body postures. The experiment results showed that the typing performance of the ergonomic keyboard decreased a little, but no significant difference statistically, compared with that of the traditional keyboard. On the work posture, the ulnar deviation during typing decreased in case of the ergonomic keyboard. But, the wrist extension was increased unexpectedly. Therefore, it can be regarded as these results occur due to the shape of wrist rest and the overall height of keyboard on a table. As a result, the reconsideration and redesign on the ergonomic keyboard are requested.