Perception of bimodal warning cues during remote supervision of autonomous agricultural machines

Agricultural machines that are fully autonomous will still need human supervisors to monitor and troubleshoot system failures. Recognising the emergency as soon as possible is crucial to reduce adverse effects. The ability of humans to detect visual, auditory, or tactile cues is usually enabled by w...

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Main Authors: Anita Chidera Ezeagba, Cheryl Mary Glazebrook, Daniel Delmar Mann
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Czech Academy of Agricultural Sciences 2025-06-01
Series:Research in Agricultural Engineering
Subjects:
Online Access:https://rae.agriculturejournals.cz/artkey/rae-202502-0005_perception-of-bimodal-warning-cues-during-remote-supervision-of-autonomous-agricultural-machines.php
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author Anita Chidera Ezeagba
Cheryl Mary Glazebrook
Daniel Delmar Mann
author_facet Anita Chidera Ezeagba
Cheryl Mary Glazebrook
Daniel Delmar Mann
author_sort Anita Chidera Ezeagba
collection DOAJ
description Agricultural machines that are fully autonomous will still need human supervisors to monitor and troubleshoot system failures. Recognising the emergency as soon as possible is crucial to reduce adverse effects. The ability of humans to detect visual, auditory, or tactile cues is usually enabled by warning systems. The effectiveness of different warning cues varies in terms of prompting a quick response. The study's objective was to compare the effectiveness of two bimodal warnings (i.e., visual-auditory and visual-tactile) at eliciting supervisor perception (which equates to level one situation awareness). Twenty-five participants engaged in an autonomous sprayer simulation. Two realistic remote supervision scenarios (i.e., in-field and close-to-field) were used to examine two bimodal warning cues: (i) visual-auditory and (ii) visual-tactile. The effectiveness of each bimodal warning was assessed based on two measures: (i) response time and (ii) noticeability. There was no significant difference between the bimodal warning cues in terms of response time when tractor sound was present in the experimental environment (reflecting the in-field remote supervision scenario); however, visual-tactile cues yielded shorter response times than visual-auditory cues when the experimental environment was quiet (reflecting the close-to-field remote supervision scenario). There were no statistically significant differences between visual-auditory and visual-tactile warnings concerning noticeability. Participants' subjective answers indicated they preferred the visual-tactile cues better than the visual-auditory cues. It is concluded that visual-tactile warnings are preferred over visual-auditory warnings to enable perception during remote supervision of autonomous agricultural machines (AAMs).
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spelling doaj-art-679e28a029bb428faf4cce4ecd01364b2025-08-20T03:30:45ZengCzech Academy of Agricultural SciencesResearch in Agricultural Engineering1212-91511805-93762025-06-01712697910.17221/73/2024-RAErae-202502-0005Perception of bimodal warning cues during remote supervision of autonomous agricultural machinesAnita Chidera Ezeagba0https://orcid.org/0009-0009-7191-1032Cheryl Mary Glazebrook1https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5908-4542Daniel Delmar Mann2https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9265-9758Department of Biosystems Engineering, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba, CanadaFaculty of Kinesiology and Recreation Management, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba, CanadaDepartment of Biosystems Engineering, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba, CanadaAgricultural machines that are fully autonomous will still need human supervisors to monitor and troubleshoot system failures. Recognising the emergency as soon as possible is crucial to reduce adverse effects. The ability of humans to detect visual, auditory, or tactile cues is usually enabled by warning systems. The effectiveness of different warning cues varies in terms of prompting a quick response. The study's objective was to compare the effectiveness of two bimodal warnings (i.e., visual-auditory and visual-tactile) at eliciting supervisor perception (which equates to level one situation awareness). Twenty-five participants engaged in an autonomous sprayer simulation. Two realistic remote supervision scenarios (i.e., in-field and close-to-field) were used to examine two bimodal warning cues: (i) visual-auditory and (ii) visual-tactile. The effectiveness of each bimodal warning was assessed based on two measures: (i) response time and (ii) noticeability. There was no significant difference between the bimodal warning cues in terms of response time when tractor sound was present in the experimental environment (reflecting the in-field remote supervision scenario); however, visual-tactile cues yielded shorter response times than visual-auditory cues when the experimental environment was quiet (reflecting the close-to-field remote supervision scenario). There were no statistically significant differences between visual-auditory and visual-tactile warnings concerning noticeability. Participants' subjective answers indicated they preferred the visual-tactile cues better than the visual-auditory cues. It is concluded that visual-tactile warnings are preferred over visual-auditory warnings to enable perception during remote supervision of autonomous agricultural machines (AAMs).https://rae.agriculturejournals.cz/artkey/rae-202502-0005_perception-of-bimodal-warning-cues-during-remote-supervision-of-autonomous-agricultural-machines.phpwarning systemssituation awarenesshuman supervisionautomated farm machinery
spellingShingle Anita Chidera Ezeagba
Cheryl Mary Glazebrook
Daniel Delmar Mann
Perception of bimodal warning cues during remote supervision of autonomous agricultural machines
Research in Agricultural Engineering
warning systems
situation awareness
human supervision
automated farm machinery
title Perception of bimodal warning cues during remote supervision of autonomous agricultural machines
title_full Perception of bimodal warning cues during remote supervision of autonomous agricultural machines
title_fullStr Perception of bimodal warning cues during remote supervision of autonomous agricultural machines
title_full_unstemmed Perception of bimodal warning cues during remote supervision of autonomous agricultural machines
title_short Perception of bimodal warning cues during remote supervision of autonomous agricultural machines
title_sort perception of bimodal warning cues during remote supervision of autonomous agricultural machines
topic warning systems
situation awareness
human supervision
automated farm machinery
url https://rae.agriculturejournals.cz/artkey/rae-202502-0005_perception-of-bimodal-warning-cues-during-remote-supervision-of-autonomous-agricultural-machines.php
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AT danieldelmarmann perceptionofbimodalwarningcuesduringremotesupervisionofautonomousagriculturalmachines