Teleoperators’ training and skills development: A scoping review

In recent years, teleoperation has become prevalent in several key sectors, especially high-risk industries. The teleoperators’ skills are crucial, as they directly influence the effectiveness of teleoperated systems. However, the literature on teleoperation training and skills development is scarce. Therefore, this scoping review aims to systematically: (a) size and comprehensively explore the skills and challenges related to the training of teleoperators, and (b) synthesize the empirical advances and blind spots of this specific literature. Fifteen articles were evaluated in terms of their basic characteristics, remote operation system characteristics, skills characteristics, study characteristics, outcomes, and effects. Across the wide variety of teleoperation systems and modalities, existing studies remain limited to the identification of generic skills and offer little practical investigation into training programs, environments, and scenarios. We emphasize the need for conducting empirical research and provide some perspectives for research and practice in the field of teleoperation training. Future research should analyze the real work activities of teleoperators across various professional fields in order to identify the full range of competencies and how these competencies are enacted in practice, promoting the development of efficient (empirically and theoretically grounded) training programs.