Intuitive one-hand controls for robotic camera arms

A major challenge in telepresent on-orbit servicing is providing the human operator with all the information required to gain the situational awareness required to safely and effectively perform complex servicing tasks in the remote orbital environment. One support tool is a dedicated robotic camera arm. This will be teleoperated independent of both the servicer satellite platform and other robotic manipulators to allow the operator an overview of the work site and also the relative positions of the satellites and the manipulator(s). Since such a camera arm must be controlled in parallel to either the satellite platform or a set of robotic manipulators, its control must be intuitive and one-handed in order to be beneficial to the operator. Furthermore the operator must be provided the relative orientation of spacecraft and camera arm in order to be able to create a correct mental model of the situation. A system for visualizing and controlling positions and movements of a camera arm in relation to the platform was developed and evaluated as part of ongoing research activities at Technical University Munich's Institute of Astronautics. This paper outlines the results of this work, including the evaluation of the individual input devices concerning intuitiveness and immersion.