Enhancing excavation performance and situational awareness in construction teleoperation using electro-tactile feedback

Construction teleoperators, who perform hazardous tasks remotely, often experience limited situational awareness and cognitive overload due to overreliance on visual displays. These challenges are exacerbated in high-pressure situations, increasing the risk of fatal accidents and degrading task performance, especially for novice operators. In this paper, an electro-tactile feedback interface was introduced to address these issues, and its impact on task performance (e.g., collision, productivity) and cognitive performance (e.g., workload, situational awareness) are investigated across different levels of operational difficulty. A virtual environment simulating real-world excavation constraints was used to assess its effectiveness and usability with sixty-two participants. The results indicate that electro-tactile feedback not only reduces workload and enhances risk perception of remote hazards, but also improves control performance in excavation tasks, particularly under cognitively demanding conditions. These findings support the integration of electro-tactile feedback into construction teleoperation interfaces, contributing to safer and more efficient remote operations in challenging environments.