1Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics MIT
2Department of Nuclear Engineering - MIT?
Tactile feedback is a method of combating the spatial disorientation often felt by pilots flying without visual cues. Researchers test the effectiveness of this method on board NASAšs KC-135 micro-gravity test-bed. The experiment uses a flight simulator to test the varying response times of the test subject given different contextual inputs of visual feedback, tactile feedback, or both. Results depict a reduction in pilot recovery time of up to one second with both tactile feedback and visual inputs compared to only visual cues. The positive results of this experiment lay the groundwork for future experiments for tactile feedback implementation for military and general aviation pilots as well as astronauts participating in extravehicular activities.