Development of Simplified Innovative Pilot Display and Control Systems for Modular Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROV)

Today´s technology in ROV tasks places increasing demands on ROV operators. As exploration and production proceed into deeper water, ROVs will acquire many of the tasks now performed by divers in shallower water. The resulting increased complexity of work and inspection tasks requires more complex ROV systems. Servo slaved anthropomorphic manipulators, working in conjunction with four function grabber arms observed through hi-resolution color and/or stereo TV cameras and other sophisticated subsystems on the ROV distract even experienced operators or engineers from accomplishing the intended task. Human factors design of operator display and control systems today simplify the machine-human interface allowing the operator perception of the job from a more diver-like viewpoint. Ideally, the ROV operator performs sub-sea tasks totally unaware of the complex system linking him with the task. Practical human factors engineering reduces operator fatigue, increases work efficiency and permits execution of more complex tasks. To evaluate the effectiveness of human factors designs, a method of quantifying various components of the display and control system will be discussed. This tradeoff study will determine both necessity and location of various components.