Development of and Research into the Ergometric Evaluation method for Space Suit Glove 2000-01-2258

Experimental evaluation is very important for space suit (SS) gloves design development. There are several ways to evaluate the SS gloves. One of the main ways is the method of expert (qualitative) and subjective evaluation which is used by an operator to evaluate mobility level, comfort, etc. using the glove box or space suit. The following methods of glove performance quantitative evaluation are also used: grasp/pinch force measurement, tactile feedback tests, dexterity determination during various types of work etc. The Zvezda's specialists proposed and researched an effective ergometric method in addition to the SS glove qualitative evaluation and instead of most methods for glove performance quantitative evaluation. This method makes it possible to evaluate objectively various characteristics of the gloves using quantitative determination of work performed by the gloved operator. The paper presents short description of the proposed method for SS glove evaluation and gives comparative test results for several types of the gloves tested with this method.