The influence of camouflage, obstruction, familiarity and spatial ability on target identification from an unmanned ground vehicle

    Authors

    T. Fincannon; J. R. Keebler; F. Jentsch;M. Curtis

    Comments

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    Abbreviated Journal Title

    Ergonomics

    Keywords

    UGV; unmanned ground vehicle; remote environments; visual search; object; recognition; reconnaissance; obstruction; camouflage; familiarity; SIMULATED MULTITASKING ENVIRONMENT; HUMAN-ROBOT INTERACTION; VISUAL-SEARCH; CONCURRENT PERFORMANCE; URBAN SEARCH; MILITARY; TELEOPERATION; ATTENTION; FEATURES; CONTEXT; Engineering, Industrial; Ergonomics; Psychology, Applied; Psychology

    Abstract

    The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of environmental and cognitive factors on the identification of targets from an unmanned ground vehicle (UGV). This was accomplished by manipulating obstruction, camouflage and familiarity of objects in the environment, while also measuring spatial ability. The effects of these variables on target identification were studied by measuring performance of participants that observed pre-recorded video from a 1:35 scaled military operations in urban terrain facility. Analyses indicated that a combination of camouflage and obstruction caused the most detrimental effects on performance, and that there were differences in the recognition of familiar and unfamiliar targets. Further analysis indicated that these detrimental effects could only be overcome with a combination of target familiarity and spatial ability. The findings highlight the degree to which environmental factors hinder performance and the need for a multidimensional approach for improving performance under these conditions. Areas in need of future research are also discussed. Practitioner Summary: Cognitive theory is applied to the problem of perception from UGVs. Results from an experimental study indicate that a combination of camouflage and obstruction caused the most detrimental effects on performance, with differences in the recognition of both familiar and unfamiliar targets. Familiarity and spatial ability interacted to predict the performance.

    Journal Title

    Ergonomics

    Volume

    56

    Issue/Number

    5

    Publication Date

    1-1-2013

    Document Type

    Article

    Language

    English

    First Page

    739

    Last Page

    751

    WOS Identifier

    WOS:000319107300002

    ISSN

    0014-0139

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