Effects of vehicle- and task-related motion feedback on operator performance in teleoperation

In this paper we present the results of two experiments performed using a teleoperation setup where operators control a simulated quadrotor in a virtual environment while perceiving visual and inertial motion feedback. Participants of this study performed a series of precision hover tasks. The experiments focused on how different motion feedback definitions affect operator performance and control effort. In the first experiment the effect of including different components of the quadrotor motion in the motion feedback was studied (referred to as "vehicle-related" motion feedback). In the second experiment, the effect of including task-related information in the motion feedback, in the form of a roll motion representing the offset between the desired and actual quadrotor position, was investigated (referred to as "task-related" motion feedback). In both experiments the effects of degraded visual quality was investigated. For both vehicle-related lateral motion feedback and task-related roll motion feedback, we found a significant increase in operator performance. Vehicle-related roll motion feedback showed no effect on operator performance. Control effort, defined as the overall stick deflection during the trials, decreased in vehicle-state roll motion conditions and increased in task-related motion feedback. The results show the applicability and benefits of providing task-related motion feedback in teleoperation.