A two-armed telerobot now undergoing development can manipulate objects with dexterity approaching that of a human. It is designed to be remotely operated by a human. The human operator wears a harness with exoskeleton-like sleeves and gloves; the remote manipulator follows the operator's arm, hand, and finger movements and feeds back position and force information so that the operator has a sense of manipulating the object held by the telerobot. Eventually, as control electronics becomes more advanced, it may be possible to give the robot autonomy over routine manipulative tasks, although human control will still be needed for unstructured activities.
Antal Bejczy - Jet Propulsion Laboratory
NASA Office of Aeronautics and Space Technology (Code R)