MOBOTRY: The new art of remote handling

Abstract

Equipment to perform a great variety of tasks within hostile environments has been designed and built utilizing well-proven electronic techniques. Such systems perform most of the operations which would be performed manually were it possible for a man to enter the hazardous area. Examples of hostile environments include space, the ocean, nuclear laboratories, and numerous others. A simple trinary coding command system has proved quite practical and is capable of commanding mobile remote systems having 50 or more degrees of freedom. Conventional closed-circuit television systems may be used for driving and steering remotely-controlled vehicles and for accomplishing manipulative tasks. Two or more such cameras are highly desirable for obtaining good spatial perception. Examples of remotely-controlled systems for hostile environments include the Hughes Mark II Mobot system for nuclear hot laboratories, the RUM (Remote Underwater Manipulator) built by Scripps Institute of Oceanography for scientific and military operation in the depths of the ocean, and a variety of outdoor remotely-controlled vehicles designed and operated by Engineer Research and Development Laboratory at Fort Belvoir, Virginia, and by Air Force Special Weapons Center in Albuquerque, New Mexico.