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EEUM’s researcher participates in research on tactile ergonomics Back

Monday, 1/29/2018   
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Pedro Arezes, Full Professor from the School of Engineering of the University of Minho (EEUM), participated in a pioneering worldwide study on tactile ergonomics.
The EEUM, through its researcher Pedro Arezes, from the ALGORITMI Research Centre of the School [of Engineering], participated in a pioneering worldwide study on the use of tablets and their impact on the users’ health. The study – carried out in partnership with Harvard University, in USA, and Microsoft – has just been published in the most reputable journal “Applied Ergonomics” and will contribute to the design and development of software and devices that affect less the posture and reduce the muscular effort of the users.

The study was developed at the School of Public Health of Harvard University, in Boston, where Pedro Arezes is temporarily working. The project aimed at evaluating several software design solutions for tablets in an attempt to perceive how this can influence the muscle activity and user posture.

It is expected that the results obtained will allow an optimisation – by the companies – of the interfaces used in mobile devices, such as tablets and smartphones, taking into account ergonomic issues that can compromise people’s health and well-being. “The study we now publish, and its recommendations, are the result of an analysis not of the equipment but of the way the interaction takes place when considering different interfaces, as several types of buttons with different configurations and locations”, Pedro Arezes explains.

“The future of success that I foresee for EEUM will also be associated with small contributions such as these. I believe that these collaborative networks are gradually being established throughout the world, progressively giving more and more visibility and recognition to the EEUM, so that it can be affirmed as one of the major engineering schools both national and internationally”, the researcher highlighted.

The research used the analysis of muscular electric activity technique and also the three-dimensional movement analysis. The project originating this publication was carried out under the coordination of Jack Dennerlein, from Harvard University, and resulted in a strategic connection between that institution and the US multinational Microsoft.

+ info: The article is available at: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0003687017302818
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