A Mixed-Reality Training System for Teleoperated Biomanipulations

This paper presents a mixed-reality system for the training of operators (biologogist/neuroscientists) on fully teleoperated biomanipulations. These tasks are traditionally performed via direct manual control of the biomanipulation equipment while looking through the binoculars of a microscope. However, direct manual control makes the conventional systems susceptible to even very small operator errors, and extensive training is normally required to attain a satisfactory proficiency. To improve this area, a fully teleoperated biomanipulation system has been previously developed, but efficient operation of that system also requires some training. Therefore, the system presented here has been created to help new operators became familiar with the teleoperated system environment, introducing them to the system controls and joysticks functions. Two mixed-reality training games were designed, implemented and tested for this purpose: A “move-and-shoot” game focused on precise positioning training; and a trajectory following game intended to develop precise motion control skills on new operators. Preliminary experiments performed with 20 totally novice operators demonstrated that this new training system is effective in terms of the initial development of control skills for real teleoperated biomanipulations. Experimental metrics demonstrated an exponential learning curve for these novice operators, who achieved good performance values after only two practice runs on the system. In addition, training here was proven safe and inexpensive since no real cells, biochemical products, or several pipettes were needed for this initial training phase.