Vibrotactile-Based Operational Guidance System for Space Science Experiments

Yi Wang,Chao Huang,Ge Yu,Guan-Yang Liu,Yu-Hang Wang

doi:10.3390/act10090229

Abstract

On-orbit astronauts and scientists on the ground need to cooperate closely, to complete space science experiments efficiently. However, for the increasingly diverse space science experiments, scientists are unable to train astronauts on the ground about the details of each experiment. The traditional interaction of visual and auditory channels is not enough for scientists to directly guide astronauts to experimentalize. An intuitive and transparent interaction interface between scientists and astronauts has to be built to meet the requirements of space science experiments. Therefore, this paper proposed a vibrotactile guidance system for cooperation between scientists and astronauts. We utilized Kinect V2 sensors to track the movements of the participants of space science experiments, process data in the virtual experimental environment developed by Unity 3D, and provide astronauts with different guidance instructions using the wearable vibrotactile device. Compared with other schemes using only visual and auditory channels, our approach provides more direct and more efficient guidance information that astronauts perceive is what they need to perform different tasks. Three virtual space science experiment tasks verified the feasibility of the vibrotactile operational guidance system. Participants were able to complete the experimental task with a short period of training, and the experimental results show that the method has an application prospect.

Highlights

The space science experiments need to be accomplished by the close cooperation of scientists on ground and on-orbit astronauts [1,2]
Visual and auditory channels have good performance in interaction, they are not enough to meet the requirements of timeliness and effectiveness of space science experiments [2]
This paper proposed a novel operational guidance system based on haptic guidance

Summary

Introduction

Space science experiments need to be carried out in long-term automatic operation and short-term manned space laboratories, and they are characterized by complexity and uncertainty of environmental factors. The space science experiments need to be accomplished by the close cooperation of scientists on ground and on-orbit astronauts [1,2]. Robots cannot handle unexpected events in complex tasks well, and scientists’ guidance for astronauts is still needed to deal with unexpected events. With the increase in the types of space science experiments, scientists are unable to train astronauts on the ground for the details of each experiment. An intuitive and transparent interaction interface has to be built to realize the transparent guidance of scientists on the ground to the orbiting astronauts and close cooperation between scientists and astronauts to complete the increasingly diverse and difficult-to-operate space science experiments

Objectives

Methods

Results