Improved Situational Awareness and Performance with Dynamic Task-Based Overlays for Teleoperation

Teleoperation remains an essential mode of robot control, especially in hazardous, uncertain environments. However, it presents multiple challenges such as latency, limited depth perception and constrained field of view. In this work, we introduce dynamic 2D GUI designs that leverage psychophysics principles to align with human perception and decision-making. These designs seamlessly integrate depth information, force feedback, and system status by overlaying real-time task-relevant data onto either 2D or 3D views. To assess their effectiveness, we compare them with HMD displays. The results indicate superior user task performance, marked by fewer "control mode" switches, reduced errors and collisions, and a 100% task completion rate. Furthermore, users reported heightened task confidence levels and improved situational awareness when using the dynamic 2D GUI designs.