IMITATIVE VIRTUAL REALITY-BASED MODELING OF THE MODES OF PILOTED VEHICLE CONTROL ON A LUNAR STATION TO INVESTIGATE OPERATOR'S ACTIVITY IN ISOLATION STUDIES

Abstract

The survey is focused on the applicability of virtual reality(VR) and 3D immersive technologies for isolation studies of the human-robot interaction during intravehicular activities (IVA) and scenarios of pilotless vehicles (PVs) operations on a lunar station. The investigation resulted in covering the prototyped multicopter drones for inspecting closed environments on Earth and future creation of appropriate VR models, and proposing off-line PVs analogous to the NASA Free-Flyers Units Astrobee, and VirSim system for use on the lunar station. The imitative VR models and suggested research tasks include the following: 1) PVs scenarios, routing and scheduling, 2) modeling autonomous navigation and control (local positioning and navigation) inside the station, 3) manual piloting, 4) virtual and real control panels, 5) comparison of displays representing PVs cameras stream, 2D-electronic maps and real-time 3D-image, 6) PVs scenarios for potential danger to the lunar station, and support of response to unexpected events. Knowledge from the isolation studies can substantiate guidelines on PVs operations aboard habitable lunar stations.