2018 Volume 23 Issue 3 Pages 149-158
We have been developing a set of wearable devices for providing an egocentric child experience to the wearer, named CHILDHOOD. The system is composed of two wearable devices: 1) a visual translator for mapping the wearer's eyesight level onto his/her waist position by using a head-mounted display and a wearable camera module, and 2) a pair of passive hand exoskeletons for miniaturizing hand gestures by using motion conversion mechanisms. In this paper, we revised the configuration of the visual translator to improve the usability, and implemented a new passive mechanism of the hand exoskeleton for achieving natural grabbing motion. We conducted a field study at a nursing school for evaluating how the visual system modulates the perception of interpersonal distance, and also performed a lab study to observe the changes in a user's hand function while using the exoskeleton with a peg test environment.
