Aiaa-94°1254-cp Telerobotics for Depot Modernization

The time is right to transition telerobotics beyond the traditional hazardous environment domain into industrial repair and remanufacturing applications. Air Force depots are prime examples of an industrial environment where small batch sizes, feature uncertainty, and varying workload, conspired to make classical industrial robotic solutions impractical and telerobotics a key enabling technology. The AFMC Robotics and Automation Center of Excellence (RACE) has launched the Unified Telerobotics Architecture Project (UTAP) to champion the development of the support infrastructure necessary to foster creative development and innovative utilization of emerging telerobotic technologies for depot applications. The objective of this paper is to demonstrate that telerobotics is a viable solution to a wide range of dual use applications, highlight the benefits from a unified approach, and provide an overview of the UTAP.