The Boeing Company
Method and System for Detecting and Remedying Situation Awareness Failures in Operators of Remotely Operated Vehicles

Abstract:

A system and method that detect situation awareness failures in operators of remotely operated vehicles and consequently alert the operators and/or activate a fail-safe mode in the vehicles to reduce potential for an accident. Real-time values of indicators displayed on a control station are periodically stored in a database and compared to inspected values of each indicator stored when the operator last viewed each indicator to determine if there is a difference representing an operator's level of awareness. An eye-tracking system is used to monitor the operator's point-of-gaze and awareness of each indicator. If there is a difference beyond an acceptable level of deviation between the real-time value and the inspected value, the system alerts the operator and/or commands the remotely operated vehicle to commence a fail-safe operation.