There has been a great deal of human factors research on unmanned air and ground vehicles, but there isvery little research examining the unique human factors problems associated with unmanned underwatervehicles (UUVs). The lack of research is surprising considering the increased use and the envisioned futureuse of UUVs in military maritime operations. In this paper, it is argued that because the underwaterenvironment is so harsh and challenging, operating UUVs presents human factors problems that aredifferent from the challenges of surface unmanned systems. Several common human factors problems arediscussed when using unmanned systems, including the loss of sensory cues and spatial awareness, thecontrol of the remote vehicle, problems with situation awareness and workload, and problems with trust inautomation. In each case, these issues are discussed with respect to underwater operations.
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