Date of Award

12-2007

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Legacy Department

Applied Psychology

Committee Chair/Advisor

Pagano, Christopher

Committee Member

Tyrrell , Rick

Committee Member

Walker , Ian

Abstract

Practical experience has shown that operators of remote robotic systems have difficulty perceiving aspects of remotely operated robots and their environments (e.g. Casper & Murphy, 2003). Operators often find it difficult, for example, to perceive accurately the distances and sizes of remote objects. Past research has demonstrated that employing a moveable camera that provides the operator optical motion allows for the perception of distance in the absence of other information about depth (Dash, 2004). In this experiment a camera was constrained to move only forward and backward, thus adding monocular radial outflow to the video stream. The ability of remote operators to perceive the sizes of remote objects and to position a mobile robot at specific distances relative to the object was tested. Two different conditions were investigated. In one condition a dynamic camera provided radial outflow by moving forward and backward while atop a mobile robot. In the second condition the camera remained stationary atop the mobile robot. Results indicated no differences between camera conditions, but superior performance for distance perception was observed when compared to previous research (Dash, 2004). This thesis provides evidence that teleoperators of a terrestrial robot are able to determine egocentric depth in a remote environment when sufficient movement of the robot is involved.

Included in

Psychology Commons

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