(Robotics) Telepresence Robot Allows You To Interact With The Surrounding Environment

A pair of new, immersive technologies allows a person to
"inhabit" the body of a distant robot in this experiment con-
ducted in Germany.
The first is the haptic (touch in greek)system that
allows the operator to don a pair of gloves that can actually
"feel" what the robot feels when it contacts an object.
The second is tele-operated movement; as the person
moves, so does the robot.

How does it work?
The distant tele-operated robot is part of a wheeled platform.
The human operator makes the robot move around simply
by walking; feeds from twin cameras placed on top of the
robot's "head" provide images to goggles worn by the human
operator.

A glove worn by the operator controls a three-fingered hand
at the end of the robot's arm.
As the operator moves the glove, the robot's hand moves.
As the robot hand presses against an object, the operator
senses resistance to movement in his own glove.
Also, the operator's sense of being present with the robot is
enhanced by the sounds picked up by the robot's microphones.


SOURCE:
TechNovelgy.com

This is a very cool development in robotics and telepresence
operations.

This technology definately has a large and diverse market;
from military use to emergency operations to medical uses.


Comments, Opinions?

[edit on 11/22/2006 by iori_komei]

Cool, we're almost nearing the technology required to create a WALDO unit.

That is some seriously cool stuff. I just love what the future has to offer

Thanks for sharing it my friend.