engineering

Teleoperation

Teleoperation is a engineering topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Teleoperation rather than just read about it. In short: Teleoperation (or remote operation) 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.

Key takeaways

Teleoperation belongs to engineering; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Teleoperation to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Teleoperation from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Teleoperation (or remote operation) 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. Teleoperation can be considered a human-machine system. For example, ArduPilot provides a spectrum of autonomy ranging from manual control to full autopilot for autonomous vehicles. The term teleoperation is in use in research and technical communities as a standard term for referring to operation at a distance. This is as opposed to telepresence which is a less standard term and might refer to a whole range of existence or interaction that include a remote connotation.

History The 19th century saw many inventors working on remotely operated weapons (torpedoes) including prototypes built by John Louis Lay (1872), John Ericsson (1873), Victor von Scheliha (1873), and the first practical wire guided torpedo, the Brennan torpedo, patented by Louis Brennan in 1877. In 1898, Nikola Tesla demonstrated a remotely controlled boat with a patented wireless radio guidance system that he tried to market to the United States military, but was turned down. Teleoperation is now moving into the hobby industry with first-person view (FPV) equipment. FPV equipment mounted on hobby cars, planes and helicopters give a TV-style transmission back to the operator, extending the range of the vehicle to greater than line-of-sight range.

Examples

There are several particular types of systems that are often controlled remotely:

Entertainment systems (i.e. televisions, VCRs, DVD players etc.) are often controlled remotely via a remote control. Industrial machinery is often operated remotely, particularly in hazardous environments. Examples include the construction of the Object Shelter or sarcophagus at Chernobyl after the Chernobyl accident, and removal of debris after hazardous rock slides. Remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) are extensively used in hazardous environments (i.e. radioactive environments, contaminated environments, minefields, deep oceans). Remote surgery Unmanned aerial vehicles, also known as drones

Teleoperation of autonomous vehicles Teleoperation of autonomous vehicles is the ability to remotely drive or assist a self-driving car. Most leading companies in the industry believe that to bridge the gap between current self-driving capabilities and the requirements needed for widespread adoption of autonomous vehicles, there is a need to have teleoperation capabilities for assisting self-driving cars, in situations of ‘edge cases’ – where the autonomous vehicle software stack has low confidence level in its ability to perform the correct action, or when the vehicle needs to operate outside of its standard operating parameters. Without remote assistance, in such situations the self-driving car would transition to a minimum risk maneuverer (MRM) which is usually to stop. Many AV companies plan on using teleoperations as part of their rollout for self driving cars. Examples of companies that have stated they will deploy, or currently deploying teleoperations solutions include Voyage.auto, Denso, Waymo, GM Cruise, Aptiv, Zoox. Teleoperation of autonomous vehicles includes privately owned self driving car use cases, such as self parking assistants, shared mobility use cases, e.g. in robotaxis and autonomous shuttles and industrial use cases, for example autonomous forklifts. There are two main modes for teleoperation of autonomous vehicles: Remote driving, also called "direct driving" – where the remote operator performs the dynamic drive task, i.e. drives the car remotely, controlling the car's steering, acceleration and braking systems. Remote assistance, also called "high level commands" – remote operators supervise the vehicle, and provide instructions, approve or correct the vehicle path, without actually performing the dynamic driving task. Some companies deploy a combination of both concepts, depending on the use case. Examples of companies that provide solutions in the field of teleoperations are DriveU.auto, Roboauto, Pylot (now part of Fernride), Ottopia, Designated Driver, Soliton Systems, and Transitive Robotics.

See also Robotics Telerobotics Remote control Remote-control vehicle Remote manipulator Remote administration Telecommand

References

External links NASA Telerobotics. NASA Telerobotics Program Plan.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Teleoperation

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Teleoperation claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In engineering, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Teleoperation before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Teleoperation ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Teleoperation

In research: Teleoperation appears in engineering research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Teleoperation in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Teleoperation is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Remote control, Telepresence, Wireless robotics, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Teleoperation outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Teleoperation in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Teleoperation means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Teleoperation out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Teleoperation in simple terms?

Why does Teleoperation matter?

Because it connects several engineering ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Teleoperation?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Teleoperation.