Telerobotics

The concepts of telerobotics, and more generally teleoperation—extension of human sensing and manipulating capability by coupling through communication means to artificial sensors and actuators—are discussed, along with related concepts of telepresence, robotics and supervisory control. Relevant historical developments are reviewed. Current and future applications to space, undersea, nuclear power, the handicapped, surgery, terrestrial mining, construction and maintenance, warehousing, firefighting, policing and military operations are briefly described. Current and new research problems are presented in telesensing, teleactuating, computer-aided supervisory control, and the interactions between the human, computer, teleoperator and task. Finally, some future social implications are discussed. The emphasis throughout is on human-machine interaction rather than on teleoperator hardware or software.