Collaborative Telerobotics: Theory and Scalable Infrastructure

We define a "collaborative telerobot" as a telerobot simultaneously controlled by many participants, where input from each participant is combined to generate a single control stream.Collaborative Telerobotics (CT) is a highly innovative approach to teleimmersion and teleworking. With CT, participants collaborate rather than compete for access to valuable resources such as historical and scientific sites. A scalable infrastructure for CT, compatible with the Internet, would allow large groups of students or researchers to simultaneously
participate in remote experiences. For example, CT can allow groups of disadvantaged students to collaboratively steer a telerobot through a working steelmill in Japan or the Presidential Inauguration, and allow groups of researchers to collaboratively move a telerobot around a newly active volcano or a fresh archaeological site.

Can a large group of distributed heterogeneous users achieve coordinated control? This concept has never been tested and poses a reasonably high risk of failure.We will design and implement one CT system with a telerobot to explore short-latency streaming protocols that can carry video and control signals. How can a system manage motion inputs from a large number of distributed users? We will
also build a CT system with a networked human "Tele-Actor" to facilitate mobility and flexibility. Can we define an "economy" for shared control that will discourage malicious users? We will define performance metrics and perform extensive field tests. CT raises new theoretical questions such as: What are the formal properties of a collaborative motion control system? How can input aggregation algorithms be made scalable and robust to time delays, noise, and variations in participant response? Can we formally prove convergence theorems for CT systems?

CT raises fundamental new research questions in theory, algorithms, and system implementation. This three-year ITR/SI research project will establish the science base for a scalable IT infrastructure for CT that will advance human-to-human and human-to-computer remote communication. We will explore and test a high-risk new approach that, if successful, will facilitate access to valuable resources and enhance the future value of IT for a broad spectrum of citizens.