Advance Modeling of a Skid-Steering Mobile Robot for Remote ...

IntroductionThe term telepresence was coined in 1980 in an article [6] published in the science fictionmagazine Omni by Marvin Minsky, the co-founder of Massachusetts Institute of Technology’sAI laboratory. In this article, he painted a picture of people suiting up in sensor-motorjackets to work at their jobs thousands of miles away. He called the remote control tools¨telepresences¨, which emphasized the idea of remotely ¨being there¨ in such a high fidelitymanner that it would seem as though the experience was ¨in person¨. By using his ownwords, we can fully describe the concept of telepresence as:≪You don a comfortable jacket lined with sensors and muscle-like motors. Eachmotion of your arm, hand, and fingers is reproduced at another place by mobile,mechanical hands. Light, dexterous, and strong, these hands have their ownsensors through which you see and feel what is happening. Using this instrument,you can ¨work¨ in another room, in another city, in another country, or on anotherplanet. Your remote presence possesses the strength of a giant or the delicacy of asurgeon. Heat or pain is translated into informative but tolerable sensation. Yourdangerous job becomes safe and pleasant.≫Robotics has entered the telepresence space not only as manipulators in sealed nuclearfacilities as envisioned by Minsky [6], but more in general as remotely teleoperated Air,Underwater and Ground Vehicles used for reconnaissance, surveillance or explorations ofunknown environments, like the Mars Rovers for space explorations, as well as hazardousduties, like mine rescue and survey or bomb disposal.Contemporary commercial telepresence robots can be described as embodied video conferencingon wheels. These new telepresence robots provide a physical presence and independentmobility in addition to communication, unlike other video conferencing technologies.Over the last decade, companies such as Anybots, HeadThere, InTouch Health, iRobot, Ro-