Human Factors Design and Evaluation of China’s Space Manipulator Teleoperation System

Abstract

Space manipulators are important for the assembly, construction, operation, and maintenance of space stations. To ensure that the manipulator system on the China Space Station (CSS) is user-friendly, the human factors engineering team has carried out extensive studies on the human factors design and evaluation of the space manipulator teleoperation system from three aspects: the technical process, research on ergonomic requirements, and ergonomic evaluation. This article systematically combs the technical process and index system of the human factors design and requirements research on CSS manipulator teleoperation system, which has guided the optimization of space manipulator engineering. This article expounds the research work on ergonomic requirements and suggestions related to manipulator teleoperation through experimental research on cognitive characteristics and human factors in display and control interfaces. We focus on human factors experimental research for camera type and handle polarity, and a recommended scheme for camera display and handle polarity has been screened out accordingly. Finally, the human-in-the-loop ergonomic evaluation method is demonstrated with a cooperative manual control task. The research results have facilitated the human factors design and optimization improvement of the space manipulator manipulator system, and have contributed significantly to the safe and smooth completion of astronaut extravehicular activities on the CSS.

Keywords:

• Manipulator teleoperation
• human factors design
• ergonomic evaluation

Consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. T2192933) and the Foundation of National Key Laboratory of Human Factors Engineering (614222210301). Chunhui Wang would like to acknowledge the financial support of the Technology innovation team of manned space engineering.

Notes on contributors

Weicai Tang

Weicai Tang is an Assistant Researcher in Human Factors Engineering at the National Key Laboratory of Human Factors Engineering, China. Current themes of research: space human factors engineering.

Yu Tian

Yu Tian is an Assistant Researcher in Human Factors Engineering at the National Key Laboratory of Human Factors Engineering, China. Current themes of research: cognitive psychology, motor control, human-computer interaction.

Lifen Tan

Lifen Tan is an Assistant Researcher in Human Factors Engineering at the National Key Laboratory of Human Factors Engineering, China. Current themes of research: space human factors engineering, human-computer interaction.

Shuqi Xue

Shuqi Xue is an Assistant Researcher in Human Factors Engineering at the National Key Laboratory of Human Factors Engineering, China. Current themes of research: situation awareness in complicated task, space human factors engineering.

Ting Jiang

Ting Jiang is an Associate Researcher in Human Factors Engineering at the National Key Laboratory of Human Factors Engineering, China. Current themes of research: lighting and visual function, space human factors engineering.

Shihua Zhou

Shihua Zhou is an Associate Reasearcher in Human Factors Engineering at the National Key Laboratory of Human Factors Engineering, China. Current themes of research: space human factors engineering.

Chunhui Wang

Chunhui Wang is a Researcher in Human Factors Engineering at the National Key Laboratory of Human Factors Engineering, China. Current themes of research: human factors engineering.