Teleoperation is a way to combine the intelligence and adaptability of humans and the physical capabilities and endurance of robots in order to perform tasks which are otherwise very difficult or impossible.
Such tasks include space and undersea operations, nuclear site cleanup, and microsurgery. However, it is a well-known fact that human has superior performances to today's most advanced teleoperation systems.
This is in major part due to lack of "telepresence" or the feel of the remote environment that the operator receives. The goal of teleoperation systems is to maximize telepresence in such a manner that the operator feels as if he/she is working directly in the remote environment.
A solution to this is to provide useful feedback signals to the operator. These signals can be in either visual or kinesthetic form.
Examples of such feedback information are force and position feedback. A challenge is to find a way to characterize this information and convert it to a useful form to the operator.
How to prioritize this information and make good use of it will be a central subject of the research. Virtual fixtures, which enhance accuracy in teleoperator systems, will also be studied.
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