BackgroundIn the actual operation task, the workload of the oceanaut is mainly mental workload. For the oceanaut, too high or too low mental workload will significantly reduce work efficiency and even lead to major safety accidents. Classification of mental workload of the oceanaut in operational task research is one of the key problems in operational task research. However, the traditional mechanism modeling method is complex, computational complexity and low accuracy.MethodIn this paper, machine learning method got used to the model. Based-on Electroencephalograph (EEG) data collected from the simulation experiment of the operating manipulator, multiclass support vector machine (MSVM) was used to train the samples, and the optimal training sample size was selected. The parameters of the model were optimized by grid search mixed with particle-swarm optimization algorithm (GSPSO) to obtain the optimal classification of oceanaut’s mental workload.ResultsAs the research results showed that the method could accurately classify the mental workload of oceanauts. Furthermore, GSPSO-MSVM in the classification of oceanaut’s mental workload had the advantage over K-nearest neighbors (KNN), BP neural network (BP), random forest (RF) and support vector machines (SVM).ConclusionGSPSO-MSVM in the classification of oceanaut’s mental workload had the advantage over K-nearest neighbors (KNN), BP neural network (BP), random forest (RF) and support vector machines (SVM).Key points: The significance of the studyClassification of mental workload of the oceanaut in operational task research is one of the key problems in operational task research.Based-on Electroencephalograph (EEG) data collected from the simulation experiment of the operating manipulator, multiclass support vector machine (MSVM) was used to train the samples, and the optimal training sample size was selected.The parameters of the model were optimized by grid search mixed with particle-swarm optimization algorithm (GSPSO) to obtain the optimal classification of oceanaut’s mental workload.GSPSO-MSVM in the classification of oceanaut’s mental workload had the advantage over K-nearest neighbors (KNN), BP neural network (BP), random forest (RF) and support vector machines (SVM).