Analysis of cognitive skill in a water discharge activity for firefighting robots

Abstract

AbstractTeleoperated robots are expected to perform tasks in unexpected disaster sites, which have become increasingly common in recent years. However, only few teleoperated robots are used for such purposes owing to their poor usability compared to the handling of such tasks by humans. Further, human-machine interfaces (HMI) used in teleoperated robots are closely related to human skills. Firefighting activities require cognitive skill to make appropriate decisions. In extinguishing a fire or attenuating a leaked combustible gas, firefighting activities consist of two tasks: reconnaissance and water discharge to stop the fire or attenuate the leaked combustible gas, and these tasks possess different properties. In this study, we compared the cognitive skill of ten firefighters (five novices and five experts) in attenuating the leaked combustible gas, the latter of the said two tasks, using a teleoperated robot at a fire department. The experimental results indicated that experts were more multifaceted in their evaluation of the attenuation of combustible gas as compared to novices. In addition, as this result related to firefighter decision-making mechanisms, we were motivated to improve the HMI of firefighting teleoperated robots.