The operator of a teleoperated land vehicle must have a sufficient understanding of the attitude of a remote vehicle to successfully operate it in an unstructured outdoor environment. The goal of this effort was to develop a human-machine interface that provides sufficient remote vehicle attitude information while minimally impacting operator workload. Referencing the remote video sensors to the earth's gravitational field was proposed as a means of providing vehicle attitude information to the operator. The hood of the remote vehicle appeared in the video image and served as a two-dimensional artificial horizon, providing the operator with vehicle pitch and roll information in a natural, nonintrusive manner. The effectiveness of gravity-referencing the sensors was experimentally tested and compared with vehicle-referencing the sensors on the same teleoperator system. Experimental results confirmed that gravity-referencing the sensors provided the operator with improved vehicle attitude information. In addition, results showed a significantly higher level of operator confidence in vehicle attitude awareness with the gravity-referencing method. A minimal increase in operator workload was also documented for the method of gravity-referencing.
Improved Operator Awareness of Teleoperated Land Vehicle Attitude
1994
34 pages
Report
No indication
English
Transportation , Ground vehicles , Remotely piloted vehicles , Roll , Environments , Detectors , Interfaces , Two dimensional , Images , Remote detectors , Vehicles , Man machine systems , Workload , Operators(Personnel) , Earth(Planet) , Video signals , Confidence level , Awareness , Outdoor , Teleoperators , Attitude(Inclination) , Gravitational fields , Horizontal indicators