AI-Enhanced Model for Integrated Performance Prediction and Classification of Vibration-Reducing Gloves for Hand-Transmitted Vibration Control

This study presents a human-centric, data-driven modeling framework for the intelligent evaluation and classification of vibration-reducing (VR) gloves used in hand-transmitted vibration environments. Recognizing the trade-offs between protection and functionality, the integrated performance assessment incorporates three critical and often conflicting metrics: manual dexterity, grip strength, and distributed vibration transmissibility at the palm and fingers. Three independent experiments involving fifteen participants were conducted to evaluate the individual performance of ten commercially available VR gloves fabricated from air bladders, polymers, and viscoelastic gels. The effects of VR gloves on manual dexterity, grip strength, and distributed vibration transmission were investigated. The resulting experimental data were used to train and tune seven different machine learning models. The results suggested that the AdaBoost model demonstrated superior predictive performance, achieving 92% accuracy in efficiently evaluating the integrated performance of VR gloves. It is further shown that the proposed data-driven model could be effectively applied to classify the performances of VR gloves in three workplace conditions based on the dominant vibration frequencies (low-, medium-, and high-frequency). The proposed framework demonstrates the potential of AI-enhanced intelligent actuation systems to support personalized selection of wearable protective equipment, thereby enhancing occupational safety, usability, and task efficiency in vibration-intensive environments.