Dynamics Modeling of Human–Machine Control Interface for Underwater Teleoperation

This paper presents an experimental study on new paradigms of haptic-based teleoperated navigation of underwater vehicles. Specifically, the work is focused on investigating the possibility of enhancing the user interaction by introducing haptic cues at the level of the user wrist providing a force feedback that reflects dynamic forces on the remotely operated underwater vehicle. Different typologies of haptic controllers are conceived and integrated with a real-time simulated model of an underwater robotic vehicle. An experimental test is designed to evaluate the usability of the system and to provide information on the global performance during the execution of simple tasks. Experiments are conducted with 7 candidates testing 12 different controllers. Among these, the most effective strategies have been identified and selected on the basis of minimization of errors on the vehicle trajectory and of the quality of the user’s interaction in terms of perceived comfort during operation. Overall, the results obtained with this study underline that haptic navigation control can have a positive influence on the performance of remotely controlled underwater vehicles.