Analysis of perceived workload when using a PDA for mobile robot teleoperation

Abstract

A Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) based interface has been developed to provide teleoperation of a mobile robot. The interface provides three different screen designs, all of which employ touch (finger) based interaction rather than stylus based interaction. The interface provides general interaction capabilities for driving the robot based upon the information display. The Vision-only screen provides the forward facing camera image, the Sensory-only screen provides the on-board ultrasonic sensors and laser range finder information, while the Vision with sensory overlay screen integrates all three data sets. A user evaluation was conducted to evaluate the usability and perceived workload required for each screen. Thirty participants completed the quantitative evaluation. The focus of this paper is the obtained perceived workload results.