Paintball 2: A Study of Remote-Controlled Vibro-Tactile Stimulation for the Simulation of Leader Presence

Abstract

At the HFES meeting in Denver we discussed experiments that documented a consistent decrement in performance associated with remote command and control (Pangburn, Freund, Pangburn, & Smith, 2003). The venues for these experiments were paintball assault lanes. Our participants were slower to obey verbal orders given by a remote leader than by a leader who was physically present. We have subsequently shown that the delay is due to the lack of leader presence and not to reliance upon mediated communication (Smith, 2004). Here we discuss an experiment that tests the hypothesis that gentle remote-controlled vibro-tactile stimulation by a remote leader can compensate for the observed decrement. The data encourage us to suggest that it would be prudent to evaluate further the effectiveness of remote-controlled vibro-tactile stimulation prior to finalizing plans for remote command and control of the dismounted infantry.

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