Teleoperator devices are controlled remotely by humans and used in industries such as military, law enforcement, space exploration, medical, and hazardous materials handling. They are designed to operate in dangerous or inaccessible conditions and often have sensory equipment for feedback. Some devices are semi-autonomous and can execute programmed instructions. Remote surgery is an example of teleoperation controlled locally.
Teleoperator is a term with two related meanings, the first being a device that operates under the remote control of a human being and the second being the person who operates such a device. The devices consist of two main parts, the control and the device itself, which can be connected via wireless means such as radio, the Internet, wired connections or complex electromechanical interfaces as in the case of remote surgery systems. Teleoperated devices are an integral part of the larger field of telerobotics and are often designed to operate in conditions that are inaccessible or too dangerous for humans.
Military, law enforcement, and space exploration agencies use teleoperator devices and have long been a major developer of the technologies behind them. Two other industries that employ teleoperator devices are the medical industry and hazardous materials handling services. All these fields and industries use these machines, robots and remote controlled devices to carry out tasks and operations that are too dangerous for direct human contact or are located in places that are inaccessible or dangerous for humans. Integral to these types of devices is sensory equipment, such as cameras, to give feedback to the human operator.
Space programs rely on this type of technology to control planetary exploration vehicles such as the Mars rover, interplanetary probes, orbital telescopes, and devices such as the cargo arm of America’s now-retired space shuttles. Many of these devices are semi-autonomous robots or telerobots, meaning they are capable of performing some kind of autonomous action when not under direct control. Teleoperators can be controlled completely by direct human action, or they can be controlled through the use of instruction macros and programmed routines that broadcast a set of instructions that the device is capable of executing.
Bomb disposal and radioactive material handling are two other fields that rely on teleoperator devices. Remotely operated robots allow military and bomb and explosives disposal technicians to safely handle potentially dangerous or deadly devices from a distance, reducing or eliminating the risk of injury or death. Nuclear plants and research and armament facilities use teleoperator devices to safely manage radioactive materials and waste.
While most devices of this type are, by definition, remote controlled, this is not necessarily the case. Remote surgery is an example of teleoperation usually controlled locally. Surgeons employ teleoperator devices that take the input provided by the surgeon’s hands and convert it into tiny microsurgical motions that would be too fine to perform manually. They also employ devices that allow them to perform minimally invasive procedures and surgeries, such as inserting a remote-controlled instrument through a small incision to perform heart surgery instead of having to make large incisions to allow direct access to the hands of the surgeon. This technology also allows surgeons to perform these types of procedures remotely and interact with and visually examine patients through an interface on that device.
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