ABSTRACT
There have been many studies of the automatic stabilizing control for the hovering of a remote-controlled (RC) helicopter. However, the stabilizing strategies in human manipulation have not been thoroughly investigated. From the perspective of brain science, it is expected that the stabilization is realized by feedback or feed-forward control, but it is very difficult to identify what kind of information humans use as input. In addition, from the physiological view-point of the event-related potentials, it is said that the delay time from visual stimulation to activation of the visual cortex is about 0.2 sec or longer. Thus, it is said that the movement of the end-effector occurs over 0.3 sec after the visual stimulation. Even though the balance of the hovering helicopter rapidly changes for 0.3 sec, an operator continues to balance while avoiding falling. Moreover, RC helicopter operators receive no force feedback because operators simply manipulate the remote controller. However, operators can visually perceive some information of a helicopter’s states, e.g., external force acting on helicopter, the inertia moment of helicopter, and internal trouble. Also, experts show slight and frequent manipulation even though the helicopter is just hovering.
