Effects of time delay on telerobotic control of neutral buoyancy vehicles

The use of telerobots in remote locations allows humans to extend their capabilities to distant and hazardous environments. Although safer for the operator, this extension of capabilities comes at a price. Due to communication across great distances, experiencing time delays of up to several seconds is common. Any time delay in the human/robot interaction can significantly degrade the effectiveness of operator control. This paper will looks at two common instances of human-in-the-loop command of robots: command of vehicle motion and command of a manipulator to perform an assembly task. Results from three studies are summarized to show the degradation in performance caused by varying levels of time delay.