Abstract:

New technologies available now may enable a major improvement in the way 
many teleoperated systems perform. Some relevant recent initiatives, 
including DARPA's UGV programs and AAAI RoboCup enabled valuable breakthroughs 
in technical challenge areas like mobility, machine perception and autonomous 
operation. Mobile robots developed under these initiatives participated in rescue 
missions at WTC in NY after the terror attack of last September. Some video clips 
regarding these robots' activities will be presented. In order to deal with 
unexpected contingent events, a person has to remain in the supervisory loop. 
However, a harmonic collaboration of man and machine is usually hard to achieve, 
which is presently a crucial issue. I shall argue that telerobotic related 
techniques are capable to support effectively advances toward autonomous operation 
of complex systems in phased steps and as such serve as a paradigm for intelligent 
remote operation. We had started an initiative, which will lead to remotely operated 
equipment, capable of accepting mission level commands from a human supervisor. 
We propose a model based on a mixture of behavior-based systems within a hybrid Real 
Time Control Architecture Reference Model, where the human operator can change system 
behaviors and practically interfere with actions performed in real time. 
Time allowing, I shall discuss advantages and disadvantages of major classes of 
robotic architectures (reactive, deliberative, hybrid and behavior based).