teleoperation

Syllable breakdown

Dictionary meaning

the remote control of a robot or mechanical system by a human operator located at a distance, transmitting commands through a communication link — wired or wireless — and receiving sensory feedback — video, force, audio — to maintain situational awareness of the remote environment; teleoperation extends human physical capabilities to environments that are hazardous, inaccessible, or geographically distant, including deep-sea exploration, nuclear facilities, disaster response, space operations, and surgical procedures performed across distances; the quality of teleoperation depends critically on communication latency — round-trip delay — which degrades the operator's ability to make fine adjustments, and on the richness of sensory feedback provided; shared autonomy systems combine teleoperation with robotic autonomy, allowing the robot to handle low-level motion control while the operator focuses on high-level task direction

Examples

• Teleoperation of the deep-sea remotely operated vehicle required the operator to compensate for the 200-millisecond round-trip communication delay.
• Surgical teleoperation systems such as the da Vinci allow surgeons to perform minimally invasive procedures through small incisions with scaled, tremor-filtered hand movements.

Synonyms: telerobotics, remote operation