Teleoperation performance using excavator with tactile feedback

Teleoperation systems have been used in various situations such as space tasks, rescue activities, military missions, undersea operations and unmanned constructions. Compared to direct operation, teleoperation performance is limited by a lack of awareness of remote location environments. In this paper, tactile feedback on construction machine teleoperation performance is discussed. We measured the effectiveness in a study of three-dimensional pointing tasks using Fitt's law paradigm with a tactile feedback. The way of the tactile feedback is that operator can notice an approaching excavator's bucket to ground by vibration before touching the bucket to ground. We found that total movement time was reduced by the tactile feedback.