Force Display Performs Better Than Visual Display in a Simple 6-D Docking Task.

摘要

In the molecular docking problem, one wants to minimize the binding energy of two molecules by adjoining them correctly, i.e., by correctly positioning and orienting the smaller with respect to the larger. For protein-drug interactions, the energy function is complex and pock-marked with local minima. We have studied a simplified docking problem. The user attempts to find the potential energy minimum in a 6-D space defined by six Hooke's Law springs attached to a manipulable object. (This space has no other local minima.) A pilot controlled experiment with seven subjects, twelve trails each, showed that 1) Performance with a force display is better (p less than 0.01) than performance with a visual display alone. 2) Subjects are able to find the zero force position more than twice as fast with a force display alone than with a visual display alone. We also describe a new way of graphically representing the resultants of a set of forces and torques acting on a body. Even though the experiment shows force display to be more effective, it also shows that the simple 6-D docking task can reliably be done with this visual display alone. Reprints.