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(Photograph courtesy of De-
Figure 1.8 Dark Star unmanned aerial vehicle. 1 From Teleoperation To Autonomy
fenseLink, Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense-Public Affairs.)

erators may have over a year of training before they can fly the vehicle. In
the case of UAVs, teleoperation permits a dangerous, important task to be
completed, but with a high cost in manpower.
TASK According to Wampler, 142 teleoperation is best suited for applications
CHARACTERISTICS where:

1. The tasks are unstructured and not repetitive.

2. The task workspace cannot be engineered to permit the use of industrial
manipulators.

3. Key portions of the task intermittently require dextrous manipulation, es-
pecially hand-eye coordination.

4. Key portions of the task require object recognition, situational awareness,
or other advanced perception.
5. The needs of the display technology do not exceed the limitations of the
communication link (bandwidth, time delays).

6. The availability of trained personnel is not an issue.

1.5.1 Telepresence
An early attempt at reducing cognitive fatigue was to add more cameras with
faster update rates to widen the field of view and make it more consistent
with how a human prefers to look at the world. This may not be practical