UWA Telerobot

Last updated

The UWA telerobot is a teleoperable robot belonging to the school of mechanical and civil engineering at the University of Western Australia.

Contents

Development

The UWA telerobot is a historic landmark for the Internet and The University of Western Australia. It was the first telerobot device made available for general use on the Internet in 1994. The UWA telerobot was originally developed as part of a PhD thesis by Kenneth Taylor [1] and was the subject of a later PhD by Barney Dalton. [2]

The first robot on the Internet, a plastic toy robot with only 2 degrees of freedom, was placed online by a team under Ken Goldberg at the University of Southern California [3] only three weeks before the UWA team released their website. The USC robot only lasted for seven months. The UWA robot is still online today, although the original robot was replaced in 1996 [1] and the robot is no longer available for unrestricted public access, though interested parties can request permission. [4]

Implementation

The current UWA telerobot is an ABB IRB1400 model 6 DOF serial chain robot fitted with a pneumatic gripper attachment. The robot runs on a standard ABB S4 Robot Controller linked to a Linux server and which in turn communicates with a second server running ABB's RobComm software and a National Instruments Labview application that was custom written for the task by James Trevelyan with assistance from Perth-based Icon Technologies and students. [5] The robot forms part of the UWA telelabs project. [6]

The Telerobot has undergone many changes to its control structure over time. Originally controlled via static HTML web pages using CGI, work by Dalton saw the introduction of an augmented reality Java-based interface that met with limited success. [2] Control is currently by way of a downloadable LabVIEW client application that incorporates real-time video streaming, with access control provided by the Telelabs system. [5]

Current status

The robot continues to be the basis for research and group projects undertaken by Mechatronics Engineering students and staff at UWA, Primarily involving the addition of new features or capabilities to the system. The robot is also used as a teaching aid for a course in mechanisms and multibody systems run by Karol Miller. [7] [8]

Notes and references

  1. 1 2 Taylor, K. Web Telerobotics: Reducing complexity in Robotics Archived 2009-09-21 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved on 2009-3-15
  2. 1 2 Dalton, B. Techniques for Web Telerobotics Archived 2008-12-03 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved on 2009-3-15
  3. University of Southern California Mercury Project Archived 2009-03-17 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved on 2009-3-15
  4. University of Western Australia Telelabs Registration Retrieved on 2009-3-15
  5. 1 2 Newell, James Implementing a remote laboratory for the Telerobot Archived 2009-09-26 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved on 2009-3-15
  6. University of Western Australia Telelabs Project Archived 2009-02-28 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved on 2009-3-15
  7. Miller, K. Mechanisms and Multibody Systems MECH3422 Retrieved on 2009-3-15
  8. Rea, S. Using telerobotics for remote kinematics experiments Archived 2009-09-13 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved on 2009-3-15

Related Research Articles

A virtual private network (VPN) is a mechanism for creating a secure connection between a computing device and a computer network, or between two networks, using an insecure communication medium such as the public Internet.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Uncrewed spacecraft</span> Spacecraft without people on board

Robotic spacecraft or uncrewed spacecraft are spacecraft without people on board. Uncrewed spacecraft may have varying levels of autonomy from human input; they may be remote controlled, remote guided or autonomous: they have a pre-programmed list of operations, which they will execute unless otherwise instructed. A robotic spacecraft for scientific measurements is often called a space probe or space observatory.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">University of Western Australia</span> University in Perth, Western Australia

The University of Western Australia (UWA) is a public research university in the Australian state of Western Australia. The university's main campus is in Perth, the state capital. UWA was established in 1911 by an act of the Parliament of Western Australia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Military robot</span> Robotic devices designed for military applications

Military robots are autonomous robots or remote-controlled mobile robots designed for military applications, from transport to search & rescue and attack.

Telepresence refers to a set of technologies which allow a person to feel as if they were present, to give the appearance or effect of being present via telerobotics, at a place other than their true location.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Telerobotics</span>

Telerobotics is the area of robotics concerned with the control of semi-autonomous robots from a distance, chiefly using television, wireless networks or tethered connections. It is a combination of two major subfields, which are teleoperation and telepresence.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James S. Albus</span>

James Sacra Albus was an American engineer, Senior NIST Fellow and founder and former chief of the Intelligent Systems Division of the Manufacturing Engineering Laboratory at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).

Remote surgery is the ability for a doctor to perform surgery on a patient even though they are not physically in the same location. It is a form of telepresence. A robot surgical system generally consists of one or more arms, a master controller (console), and a sensory system giving feedback to the user. Remote surgery combines elements of robotics, telecommunications such as high-speed data connections and elements of management information systems. While the field of robotic surgery is fairly well established, most of these robots are controlled by surgeons at the location of the surgery. Remote surgery is remote work for surgeons, where the physical distance between the surgeon and the patient is less relevant. It promises to allow the expertise of specialized surgeons to be available to patients worldwide, without the need for patients to travel beyond their local hospital.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Teleoperation</span> Operation of a system or machine at a distance

Teleoperation indicates operation of a system or machine at a distance. It is similar in meaning to the phrase "remote control" but is usually encountered in research, academia and technology. It is most commonly associated with robotics and mobile robots but can be applied to a whole range of circumstances in which a device or machine is operated by a person from a distance.

Push technology or server push is a style of Internet-based communication where the request for a given transaction is initiated by the publisher or central server. It is contrasted with pull, or get, where the request for the transmission of information is initiated by the receiver or client.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ken Goldberg</span> American computer scientist

Kenneth Yigael Goldberg is an American artist, writer, inventor, and researcher in the field of robotics and automation. He is professor and chair of the industrial engineering and operations research department at the University of California, Berkeley, and holds the William S. Floyd Jr. Distinguished Chair in Engineering at Berkeley, with joint appointments in Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences (EECS), Art Practice, and the School of Information. Goldberg also holds an appointment in the Department of Radiation Oncology at the University of California, San Francisco.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mobile robot</span> Type of robot

A mobile robot is an automatic machine that is capable of locomotion. Mobile robotics is usually considered to be a subfield of robotics and information engineering.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Remote manipulator</span> Device for controlling a hand-like mechanism

A remote manipulator, also known as a telefactor, telemanipulator, or waldo, is a device which, through electronic, hydraulic, or mechanical linkages, allows a hand-like mechanism to be controlled by a human operator. The purpose of such a device is usually to move or manipulate hazardous materials for reasons of safety, similar to the operation and play of a claw crane game.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Telegarden</span> Community garden art project tended remotely over the Internet 1995-2004

The TeleGarden was a telerobotic community garden for the Internet. Starting in the mid-1990s, it allowed users to view, plant and take care of a small garden, using an Adept-1 industrial robotic arm controlled online.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cloud computing</span> Form of shared Internet-based computing

Cloud computing is the on-demand availability of computer system resources, especially data storage and computing power, without direct active management by the user. Large clouds often have functions distributed over multiple locations, each of which is a data center. Cloud computing relies on sharing of resources to achieve coherence and typically uses a pay-as-you-go model, which can help in reducing capital expenses but may also lead to unexpected operating expenses for users.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wayback Machine</span> Digital archive founded by the Internet Archive

The Wayback Machine is a digital archive of the World Wide Web founded by the Internet Archive, a nonprofit based in San Francisco, California. Created in 1996 and launched to the public in 2001, it allows the user to go "back in time" to see how websites looked in the past. Its founders, Brewster Kahle and Bruce Gilliat, developed the Wayback Machine to provide "universal access to all knowledge" by preserving archived copies of defunct web pages.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Real-time Control System</span> Reference model architecture

Real-time Control System (RCS) is a reference model architecture, suitable for many software-intensive, real-time computing control problem domains. It defines the types of functions needed in a real-time intelligent control system, and how these functions relate to each other.

Remote laboratory is the use of telecommunications to remotely conduct real experiments, at the physical location of the operating technology, whilst the scientist is utilizing technology from a separate geographical location. Remote laboratory comprehends one or more remote experiments.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Craig McKinley (physician)</span> Canadian physician and aquanaut

Craig Anthony McKinley was a Canadian physician. On February 28, 2003, McKinley participated in the world's first telerobotic-assisted surgery, conducted at two hospitals separated by 400 kilometres. He later served as an aquanaut on the joint NASA-NOAA NEEMO 7 underwater exploration mission in October 2004, where he and other aquanauts tested remote health care procedures with potential application for space travel. McKinley experienced problems with alcohol and faced legal difficulties beginning in 2009. He lost his hospital privileges in 2011 and died in 2013.

SCADA Strangelove is an independent group of information security researchers founded in 2012, focused on security assessment of industrial control systems (ICS) and SCADA.