Teleoperator performance with varying force and visual feedback

An experimental study was conducted to determine the effects of various forms of visual and force feedback on human performance for several "peg-in-hole"-type telemanipulation tasks. Each of six human test subjects used a master/slave manipulator during two experimental sessions. In one session the subjects performed the tasks with direct vision, where subtended visual angle, force feedback, task difficulty, and the interaction of subtended visual angle and force feedback made significant differences in task completion times. During the other session the tasks were performed using a video monitor for visual feedback, and video frame rate, force feedback, task difficulty, and the interaction of frame rate and force feedback were found to make significant differences in task times. An analysis between the direct and video viewing environments showed that apart from subtended visual angle and reduced frame rate, the video medium itself did not significantly affect task times relative to direct viewing.