With the emergence of sophisticated bionic prostheses for upper limb amputees, the selection of the most appropriate device for each individual might become a challenge. Owing to the cost and complexity of such devices and the required time to learn their usage, it would be relevant to facilitate access to a wide range of them for intensive testing in ecological environments. In this paper, we report the development of a virtual reality setup that emulates three representative bionic prostheses and their key grasp selection methods. Twelve able-bodied participants and one transradial amputee participated in a study whose objective was to assess the influence of this setup in quantifying the perceived usability of the virtualised devices, and thus to guide a better-informed selection process of a preferred device based on the most suitable grip selection method for each individual. Results show that the user learning curve with the three simulated devices and their perceived usability was different, and that this had an influence on the final device selection. In particular, more than half of the users changed their favorite device after the experiment in virtual reality. In sum, this paper provides a proof of concept that virtual reality is a valuable tool to support a better-informed selection process of an upper limb myoelectric prosthesis that is personalized to individual preferences and capabilities by mediating its learning phase.

随着用于上肢截肢者的精密仿生假肢的出现，为每个人选择最合适的装置可能成为一个挑战。由于此类设备的成本和复杂性以及了解它们的使用所需的时间，促进广泛使用它们以在生态环境中进行密集测试将是相关的。在本文中，我们报告了模拟三种代表性仿生假肢及其关键抓取选择方法的虚拟现实设置的开发。十二名身体健全的参与者和一名经桡动脉截肢者参与了一项研究，其目的是评估这种设置在量化虚拟化设备的感知可用性方面的影响，从而根据每个人最合适的握把选择方法，指导更明智地选择首选设备的过程。结果表明，三种模拟设备的用户学习曲线及其感知可用性不同，这对最终的设备选择有影响。特别是，超过一半的用户在虚拟现实实验后更换了他们最喜欢的设备。总之，本文提供了一个概念证明，即虚拟现实是一种有价值的工具，可以支持更明智地选择上肢肌电假体，通过调解其学习阶段，根据个人喜好和能力进行个性化选择。结果表明，三种模拟设备的用户学习曲线及其感知可用性不同，这对最终的设备选择有影响。特别是，超过一半的用户在虚拟现实实验后更换了他们最喜欢的设备。总之，本文提供了一个概念证明，即虚拟现实是一种有价值的工具，可以支持更明智地选择上肢肌电假体，通过调解其学习阶段，根据个人喜好和能力进行个性化选择。结果表明，三种模拟设备的用户学习曲线及其感知可用性不同，这对最终的设备选择有影响。特别是，超过一半的用户在虚拟现实实验后更换了他们最喜欢的设备。总之，本文提供了一个概念证明，即虚拟现实是一种有价值的工具，可以支持更明智地选择上肢肌电假体，通过调解其学习阶段，根据个人喜好和能力进行个性化选择。