Accelerating Teleoperation Skill Acquisition through Visuo-Haptic Replay

Francisco Ribeiro, Jihoon Park, Minoru Asada, Erhan Oztop

Abstract: Training humans to control dynamic systems such as prosthetic limbs or teleoperated robots typically requires extensive practice. In this study, we investigate whether passive exposure to skilled control behavior—delivered via synchronized haptic and visual playback—can accelerate visuomotor learning in a non-trivial control task. Using a simulated cart-pole environment, we compare performance between participants who received an initial session of passive visuo-haptic replay and those who directly began with active control. Our results show that passive exposure yields two clear benefits: improved initial performance and a steeper learning curve across subsequent sessions. These findings suggest that passive sensorimotor experience, even without haptic guidance during active control, can support the acquisition of motor skills necessary for dynamic control. This approach may provide a low-effort and scalable training paradigm for enhancing skill acquisition in robotic and assistive technologies.