Remote Control Robotics

Increasingly, robots are being used in environments inhospitable to humans such as the deep ocean, inside nuclear reactors, and in deep space. Such robots are controlled by remote links to human operators who may be close by or thousands of miles away. The techniques used to control these robots is the subject of this book. The author begins with a basic introduction to robot control and then considers the important problems to be overcome: delays or noisy control lines, feedback and response information, and predictive displays. Readers are assumed to have a basic understanding of robotics though this may be their first exposure to the subject of telerobotics. Professional engineers and roboticists will find this an invaluable introduction to this subject. Front Matter....Pages iii-xix Introduction....Pages 1-8 Basics....Pages 9-24 Historical Perspective....Pages 25-40 Remote Control....Pages 41-50 Teleprogramming....Pages 51-58 A Natural Operator Interface....Pages 59-72 Synthetic Fixtures....Pages 73-93 Visual Imagery....Pages 95-115 Expecting the Unexpected....Pages 117-124 Command Generation and Interpretation....Pages 125-137 Results and Observations....Pages 139-163 Discussion....Pages 165-171 Conclusions....Pages 173-175 Back Matter....Pages 177-224 Introduction Basics Historical Perspective Remote Control Teleprompting A Natural Operator Interface Synthetic Fixtures Visual Imagery Expecting the Unexpected Command Generation and Interpretation Results and Observation Discussion Conclusions Implementation.