Citation

Mehta RK, Nuamah J, Peres SC, Murphy RR. IISE Trans. Occup. Ergon. Hum. Factors 2020; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2020, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/24725838.2020.1855272

PMID

33241982

Abstract

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT: Background: Small unmanned aerial systems (sUAS), which provide remote presence at disasters, are teleoperated by emergency responders who experience elevated fatigue levels exacerbated by disrupted sleep/rest schedule as a mission unfolds.

PURPOSE: We assessed fatigue states of responders who flew sUAS in both day and night missions while assisting with tactical response during the 2018 Kilauea Volcano Lower East Rift Zone event.

METHODS: We evaluated sUAS pilot states in a real-world disaster response using a 3-minute psychomotor vigilance test and a wrist worn heart rate sensor.

RESULTS: The field data, collected over four days, indicated that the sUAS pilots did not recover to baseline vigilance and physiological levels.

CONCLUSIONS: This is the first study of this kind that evaluated operator states during human-sUAS interaction in a real-world disaster response.

FINDINGS here provide critical insights on the challenges and utility of different human factors and ergonomics methods, ranging from performance to physiological and subjective approaches, to capture operator states during high-risk disaster response.

Language: en

Keywords

Heart Rate Reserve; Human Robot Interactions; Psychomotor Vigilance Test