Human Performance Issues and User Interface Design for Teleoperated Robots

• Published in: IEEE transactions on systems, man and cybernetics. Part C, Applications and reviews Vol. 37; no. 6; pp. 1231 - 1245
• Main Authors: Chen, J.Y.C., Haas, E.C., Barnes, M.J.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New-York, NY IEEE 01.11.2007; Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
• Subjects: Applied sciences; Autonomous; Computer science; control theory; systems; Computer systems and distributed systems. User interface; Control systems; Control theory. Systems; Displays; Exact sciences and technology; Human; Human performance; Human > robot interaction; Humans; Information systems. Data bases; Memory organisation. Data processing; Mobile robots; multimodal displays and input controls; Operators; Orbital robotics; Personal digital assistants; Robot control; Robot sensing systems; robotic control; Robotics; Robots; Software; Tasks; teleoperation; Time lag; user interface design; User interfaces; Vehicles; Autonomous system; robotic control; Decision support system; Proprioception; Stereoscopy; Remote operation; Video signal; Context aware; Robotics; Time lag; User interface; multimodal displays and input controls; Human-robot interaction; Bandwidth; teleoperation; Man machine relation; Multimodal interface; Delay time; user interface design; Display
• ISSN: 1094-6977; 1558-2442
• DOI: 10.1109/TSMCC.2007.905819

In the future, it will become more common for humans to team up with robotic systems to perform tasks that humans cannot realistically accomplish alone. Even for autonomous and semiautonomous systems, teleoperation will be an important default mode. However, teleoperation can be a challenging task because the operator is remotely located. As a result, the operator's situation awareness of the remote environment can be compromised and the mission effectiveness can suffer. This paper presents a detailed examination of more than 150 papers covering human performance issues and suggested mitigation solutions. The paper summarizes the performance decrements caused by video images bandwidth, time lags, frame rates, lack of proprioception, frame of reference, two-dimensional views, attention switches, and motion effects. Suggested solutions and their limitations include stereoscopic displays, synthetic overlay, multimodal interfaces, and various predicative and decision support systems.