Human Factors in Remote Vehicle Control

Remotely operating a vehicle through a TV link presents unique challenges to the human factors design engineer. In addition to the geometrical requirements involved in providing acceptable image matching from the camera to the operator's display of the remote environment, consideration must be given to the impact of the dynamic motion cues provided to the operator. While a variety of visual motion cues are presented on the display, in fixed-base control stations the operator receives no corresponding somatosensory input. The result is that a decorrelation will exist between the operator's visual and vestibular information. According to Sensory Conflict Theory, this kind of sensory conflict frequently results in the operator developing signs and symptoms of motion sickness. Presumably, this nauseagenic response could have detrimental effects on driving performance. The present paper describes the approach taken at the Naval Ocean Systems Center (NOSC) to understand the basis for the large differences in driving performance which are revealed when comparisons are made between directly driving a vehicle and when driving the same vehicle by means of a TV link. The results to date are preliminary, and center on the methodological issues associated with identifying, selecting and testing various tasks which are fundamental to vehicle driving, whether that driving is done directly or through a TV link.