AUTHOR=Zhou Tianyu , Ye Yang , Zhu Qi , Vann William , Du Jing 

TITLE=Neural dynamics of delayed feedback in robot teleoperation: insights from fNIRS analysis

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Human Neuroscience

VOLUME=Volume 18 - 2024

YEAR=2024

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/human-neuroscience/articles/10.3389/fnhum.2024.1338453

DOI=10.3389/fnhum.2024.1338453

ISSN=1662-5161

ABSTRACT=As robot teleoperation increasingly becomes integral in executing tasks in distant, hazardous, or inaccessible environments, the challenge of operational delays remains a significant obstacle.These delays are inherent in signal transmission and processing and can adversely affect the operator's performance, particularly in tasks requiring precision and timeliness. While current research has made strides in mitigating these delays through advanced control strategies and training methods, a crucial gap persists in understanding the neurofunctional impacts of these delays and the efficacy of countermeasures from a cognitive perspective. Our study narrows this gap by leveraging functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) to examine the neurofunctional implications of simulated haptic feedback on cognitive activity and motor coordination under delayed conditions. In a human-subject experiment (N=41), we manipulated sensory feedback to observe its influences on various brain regions of interest (ROIs) response during teleoperation tasks. The fNIRS data provided a detailed assessment of cerebral activity, particularly in ROIs implicated in time perception and the execution of precise movements. Our results reveal that the anchoring condition, which provided immediate simulated haptic feedback with a delayed visual cue, significantly optimized neural functions related to time perception and motor coordination, and improved motor performance compared to the asynchronous condition, where visual and haptic feedback were misaligned. These findings provide empirical evidence about the neurofunctional basis of the enhanced motor performance with simulated synthetic force feedback in the presence of teleoperation delays.