Teleoperations of rovers. From Mars to education

A teleoperations concept to remotely control the European Space Agency's rover for Mars exploration is presented in this paper. These methods have to deal with significant signal propagation delays, limited contact periods and highly reliable signal transmission. In this context, remote control schemes via the Internet have been implemented to test these operations concepts in suitable simulation environments in the laboratory. The employed techniques are described and the application potential for terrestrial teleservicing tasks is pointed out. Particular emphasis is put on the use of inexpensive telecommunication links, exhibiting also similar features regarding noise, limited contact periods and delays related to limited bandwidth. These developments offer interesting application potential in the framework of telediagnosis and telemaintenance of industrial plants, and are also employed in an educational framework for remote control and robotics demonstrations.