Rotation and direction judgment from visual images head-slaved in two and three degrees-of-freedom

The contribution to spatial awareness of adding a roll degree-of-freedom (D OF) to telepresence camera platform yaw and pitch was examined in an experi ment where subjects judged direction and rotation of stationary target mark ers in a remote scene. Subjects viewed the scene via head-slaved camera ima ges in a head-mounted display. Elimination of the roll DOF affected rotatio n judgment, but only at extreme yaw and pitch combinations, and did not aff ect azimuth and elevation judgement. Systematic azimuth overshoot occurred regardless of roll condition. Observed rotation misjudgments are explained by kinematic models for eye-head direction of gaze.