Effects of tactile cueing on concurrent performance of military and robotics tasks in a simulated multitasking environment

    Authors

    J. Y. C. Chen;P. I. Terrence

    Comments

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    Abbreviated Journal Title

    Ergonomics

    Keywords

    human-robot interaction; military; multitasking; workload; individual; differences; ATTENTION; AUTOMATION; NAVIGATION; WORKLOAD; FEEDBACK; SYSTEM; Engineering, Industrial; Ergonomics; Psychology, Applied; Psychology

    Abstract

    This study examined the concurrent performance of military gunnery, robotics control and communication tasks in a simulated environment. More specifically, the study investigated how aided target recognition (AiTR) capabilities (delivered either through tactile or tactile+visual cueing) for the gunnery task might benefit overall performance. Results showed that AiTR benefited not only the gunnery task, but also the concurrent robotics and communication tasks. The participants' spatial ability was found to be a good indicator of their gunnery and robotics task performance. However, when AiTR was available to assist their gunnery task, those participants of lower spatial ability were able to perform their robotics tasks as well as those of higher spatial ability. Finally, participants' workload assessment was significantly higher when they teleoperated (i.e. remotely operated) a robot and when their gunnery task was unassisted. These results will further understanding of multitasking performance in military tasking environments. These results will also facilitate the implementation of robots in military settings and will provide useful data to military system designs.

    Journal Title

    Ergonomics

    Volume

    51

    Issue/Number

    8

    Publication Date

    1-1-2008

    Document Type

    Article

    Language

    English

    First Page

    1137

    Last Page

    1152

    WOS Identifier

    WOS:000257544400002

    ISSN

    0014-0139

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