Chapter 1 THE NEW ROBOTIC ERA

With tremendous advances in computer communication technology, computerized robots connected to networks can be efficiently used in the design of intelligent telerobots. Intelligent telerobots allow remote operations by using a control workstation that is connected to a robotic workstation through a computer network. Fast networks allow intensive information exchange between the two workstations. Providing high quality visual and sensual information in a telerobotic system will enable sophisticated remote operations with a feeling of excellent connectivity. The aim is to develop an intelligent and networked robotic system in which the workstations exchange reflected-force feedback and stereo-vision information. A new multimedia robotic system will be designed in the next decade for supporting a class of telerobotic services allowing humans to remotely extend their manipulative capabilities and skills over a computer network. In this context, research will address the network interface for the master and the slave workstations, the implementation of the network connectivity and transfer of control, the force feedback, and visual information, and the handling of the delay problem. Intelligent robotics has a number of critical applications in remote surgery operations emergency cases, tight safety conditions, and hostile environments. Currently developed multimedia communication and services can be efficiently used to provide specific telerobotics services. The wide spread of these communication services in the future computer communication will provide the needed backbone for the implementation and wide spread of telerobotics.