Comparison of the observer, single-frame video and computer vision hand activity levels

Abstract: 

Observer, manual single-frame video, and automated computer vision measures of the Hand Activity Level (HAL) were compared. HAL can be measured three ways: (1) observer rating (HALO), (2) calculated from single-frame multimedia video task analysis for measuring frequency (F) and duty cycle (D) (HALF), or (3) from automated computer vision (HALC). This study analysed videos collected from three prospective cohort studies to ascertain HALO, HALF, and HALC for 419 industrial videos. Although the differences for the three methods were relatively small on average (<1), they were statistically significant (p < .001). A difference between the HALC and HALF ratings within ±1 point on the HAL scale was the most consistent, where more than two thirds (68%) of all the cases were within that range and had a linear regression through the mean coefficient of 1.03 (R2 = 0.89). The results suggest that the computer vision methodology yields comparable results as single-frame video analysis.

Author: 
Robert Radwin
Yu Hen Hu
Oguz Akkas
Stephen Bao
Jia-Hua Lin
Alysah R Meyers
David Rempel
Publication date: 
October 26, 2022
Publication type: 
Journal Articles
Citation: 
Radwin RG, Hu YH, Akkas O, Bao S, Harris-Adamson C, Lin JH, Meyers AR, Rempel D. Comparison of the observer, single-frame video and computer vision hand activity levels. Ergonomics. 2023 Aug;66(8):1132-1141. doi: 10.1080/00140139.2022.2136407. Epub 2022 Oct 26. PMID: 36227226; PMCID: PMC10130228.