Current subsea and space based telerobotic operations rely upon multiple 2D camera views or specially designed targets to guide the teleoperator in positioning a robot. In many remote environments, it is not feasible or is too costly to set up the required camera views or supply and position the necessary robot targets. Three-dimensional displays may provide the solution to these problems. In March of 1996, an autostereoscopic display designed by Dimension Technology Inc., was evaluated in Oceaneering Space Systems' Robotic Testing and Integration Laboratory (RTAIL). The display was integrated into a robot workstation and test operators evaluated the display by using it to perform basic telerobotic tasks similar to tasks planned for NASA Space Station. Results of the testing showed that the use of the autostereoscopic display improved telerobotic task performance by reducing perceived task complexity and improving task times. Using this display should reduce or may even eliminate the need for auxiliary camera view and targets. In addition, teleoperators will be able to perform tasks that would normally be considered too difficult due to the lack of adequate camera views. However, issues related to image ghosting and screen resolution need to be addressed before full benefits of this system can be realized. This paper details the methodology and results of our evaluation of this autostereoscopic display for telerobotic operations.
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