Human factors evaluation of operator interfaces for teleoperation of a dexterous manipulator

Ground teleoperation of a satellite servicing spacecraft is a challenging task for a human operator, especially when there is significant communications delay between the control station and spacecraft. On-orbit operations are further complicated by a communications time delay between the ground and spacecraft. Operator performance can be improved with the use of a graphical simulation of the robot. By displaying the robot's commanded position, graphical simulation can also mitigate some effects of time delay. This work implemented a visualization tool and commanded display to assist operation of a remote dexterous manipulator. A Fitts' Law experiment was designed to determine the effectiveness of the commanded display in reducing the impact of time delay. The experiment was conducted with a six degree of freedom manipulator over a range of time delays, from 0.0 to 6.0 seconds. The experimental results were analyzed to assess the reduction of task completion time and operator workload