Teleoperation: enabling remote work for nonremote workers

Mon Jan 04 2021

tags: public draft exploration idea

The Poor ROI of Autonomy TL;DR: you don't really need full autonomous driving, even teleoperation (let drivers drive the trucks remotely from home) is a big win because drivers no longer have to sit around while their trucks are being unloaded and they can sleep at home instead of in their cabs.

This got me thinking whether we can do teleoperation with other stuff as well. Obviously we have those system whereby a very expensive surgeon teleoperates on a patient, but can we scale down the market?

YouTube video demonstrating teleoperation

Can we have a very cheap robotic arm system that can be mounted on a desk or some sort of factory floor and allow people to work at factories via remote control?

Any sort of job where:

  • you need something to be physically effected
  • range of motion is confined to a table
  • no human contact necessary

this would allow handicapped workers to contribute to the economy you could also employ NEETs and people from other countries