A Pilot Study on the Control Performance of Foot-Controlled Mouse Devices for the Nondisabled People

Objective: In this study, two types of foot-controlled mouse devices are compared with a hand mouse in the input tasks requiring repetitively switching between a keyboard and a mouse. Background: Foot-controlled mouse devices have been developed for persons with impairments in the mobility of their hands. However, some researchers insisted that the foot-controlled mouse devices could be effectively used by the persons with no limits to their hand mobility. There are needs to investigate the efficiency of the foot-controlled mouse devices, when they are used by the nondisabled people. Method: Participants conducted the input tasks, requiring repetitive switches between a keyboard and a computer mouse. The used computer mouse devices were two types of foot-controlled mouse and a typical hand mouse. Participants performed three types of input task for five days and three types of task performance were measured; the number of completed input tasks within a given practice time, subjective satisfaction level and the time wasted for the mouse control. Results: For five days, the performance of input tasks sharply increased in input tasks by foot-controlled mouse devices rather than a hand mouse. After five days, the level of satisfaction on the foot-controlled mouse devices approached to about 76% of a hand mouse satisfaction level. The control time of the foot-controlled mouse devices also approached to about 109% of a hand mouse control time. Conclusion: After only five-day practice, the input task performance by foot-controlled mouse devices approached to that of a hand mouse. This result may suggest that the foot-controlled mouse devices can be effectively used as an alternative input device for the nondisabled people, if input tasks are easy and enough practice time is provided. Application: The results of this study might help to design foot-controlled mouse devices and to expend the usage of them.