An Automatic Control System with Human-in-the-Loop for Training Skydiving Maneuvers: Proof-of-Concept Experiment

TL;DR

This paper introduces a real-time control system with human-in-the-loop for skydiving training, demonstrating that augmented feedback can significantly accelerate skill acquisition in virtual skydiving simulations.

Contribution

It presents a novel automatic control system that provides visual cues to assist learners in performing complex skydiving maneuvers in a virtual environment.

Findings

Participants completed the task on first attempt with the system

The system enabled stable free-fall control in simulation

Augmented feedback accelerated initial skill learning

Abstract

A real-time motion training system for skydiving is proposed. Aerial maneuvers are performed by changing the body posture and thus deflecting the surrounding airflow. The natural learning process is extremely slow due to unfamiliar free-fall dynamics, stress induced blocking of kinesthetic feedback, and complexity of the required movements. The key idea is to augment the learner with an automatic control system that would be able to perform the trained activity if it had direct access to the learner's body as an actuator. The aiding system will supply the following visual cues to the learner: 1. Feedback of the current body posture; 2. The body posture that would bring the body to perform the desired maneuver; 3. Prediction of the future inertial position and orientation if the body retains its present posture. The system will enable novices to maintain stability in free-fall and perceive the unfamiliar environmental dynamics, thus accelerating the initial stages of skill acquisition. This paper presents results of a Proof-of-Concept experiment, whereby humans controlled a virtual skydiver free-falling in a computer simulation, by the means of their bodies. This task was impossible without the aiding system, enabling all participants to complete the task at the first attempt.