Monoscopic vs. Stereoscopic Views and Display Types in the Teleoperation of Unmanned Ground Vehicles for Object Avoidance

TL;DR

This study compares monoscopic and stereoscopic visualizations in immersive and non-immersive VR displays for remote UGV teleoperation, finding stereoscopic immersive views significantly enhance obstacle avoidance performance.

Contribution

It provides empirical evidence on the advantages of stereoscopic immersive displays over other visualizations for UGV teleoperation tasks.

Findings

Stereoscopic immersive displays improve obstacle avoidance performance.

Immersive stereoscopic views enhance usability and user performance.

Non-immersive or monoscopic views are less effective for dynamic navigation.

Abstract

Virtual reality (VR) head-mounted displays (HMD) have recently been used to provide an immersive, first-person vision/view in real-time for manipulating remotely-controlled unmanned ground vehicles (UGV). The teleoperation of UGV can be challenging for operators when it is done in real time. One big challenge is for operators to perceive quickly and rapidly the distance of objects that are around the UGV while it is moving. In this research, we explore the use of monoscopic and stereoscopic views and display types (immersive and non-immersive VR) for operating vehicles remotely. We conducted two user studies to explore their feasibility and advantages. Results show a significantly better performance when using an immersive display with stereoscopic view for dynamic, real-time navigation tasks that require avoiding both moving and static obstacles. The use of stereoscopic view in an immersive display in particular improved user performance and led to better usability.