telechir

A telechir is a complex robot that is remotely controlled by a human operator in a telepresence system, which gives the person the sense of being on location in a remote, dangerous or alien environment. Control and feedback are done by telemetry over wires, optical fibers, wireless links or the Internet. A telechir can be as simple as a single robotic arm or hand or as sophisticated as an android (humanoid robot).

In an android telechir, sensors detect visual and audio data. Tactile sensing, known as haptics, is also employed. The operator wears a virtual reality (VR) suit with a headgear containing a display and headphones that reproduce sights and sounds as they appear at the location of the telechir. Binocular machine vision and binaural machine hearing reproduce senses of optical and audio direction and distance. The telechir may have one or two arms with end effectors (grippers) resembling human hands. In haptic systems, the VR suit includes data gloves. A mobile telechir has a propulsion system such as a track drive, a set of three or more wheels, or a coordinated, balanced set of two or more jointed legs.