Abstract: This paper examines whether the potential benefits outweigh the expected costs of using stereoscopic video (SV) instead of monoscopic video (MV) for hazardous materials teleoperation. The first part presents the various benefits ascribed to SV found in previous laboratory research, and outlines the expected costs. The second part presents two experiments conducted using trained telerobot operators of a variety of skill levels, seeking confirmation that the expected benefits of SV will apply to real world field operations. There is a brief discussion of the relevance of laboratory-based experimental results to real world teleoperation, and an approach is suggested that stresses the importance of expert evaluation as a more robust and powerful analytic tool than standard laboratory techniques and statistics in field trials. The first experiment, conducted under field-like conditions with typical operators, demonstrated that operators strongly prefer SV, considering it significantly better for most teleoperation tasks, and rated SV to be more useful and more comfortable to use than MV. The results of the second experiment, conducted under more controlled conditions with expert operators, confirmed the results of the first, and demonstrated significant performance advantages of SV.!41
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