Environment 3D models provide efficient assistance to the supervision of telerobots. Modeling tools are necessary to acquire them in a compatible time with the mission requirements. We already developed an interactive modeling system which relies on images provided by an embedded camera. In order to reduce the modeling time, structural knowledge on the environment is integrated within specialized workshops, including dedicated primitives, constraints and modeling methods. We have demonstrated this approach with the example of a piping workshop, an application developed in collaboration with COGEMA and representative of a real environment in a nuclear fuel reprocessing facility.

This paper describes a 3D graphical interface to program a teleoperated mission in nuclear environment. This systems has been developed in CEA-STR. The operator uses a graphical representation based on the geometrical model of the remote site to specify and simulate a teleoperated mission. We concentrated our efforts to get a simple and intuitive man-machine communication, in order to allow an operator, not a specialist in computer science or robotics, to prepare his own mission. The graphical language we propose uses the final user natural language to program teleoperated missions through a virtual reality interface. The functional metaphor chosen is the manufacturing workshop. The first part of this paper presents problems relative to teleoperation in the nuclear field. We especially explain why we need a simple and ergonomic programming interface. The second part is dedicated to the presentation of the graphical language. The third part shows that preliminary results demonstrate the efficiency of the graphical language. We conclude by presenting perspectives for future works.

A remote-controlled mobile robot for nuclear intervention has been developed. The concept of this tracked vehicle relies on variable geometry and active stability principles. To allow the human operator to make full sue of CENTAURE original features, a control strategy is being studied, based on a bilateral master-slave approach which has provided outstanding achievements for manipulator control. An experimental test bed has been built which includes a force reflecting six-degree-of-freedom master arm, and preliminary results are promising for vehicle CAT (computer-aided teleoperation) control.>

The paper gives an overview of the different aspects of Nuclear services (Intervention, Decomissioning, Maintenance). A presentation of today and future needs in these fields for Teleoperation with sensor based controls is reviewed. The present achievements of French efforts in CAT (computer assisted Teleoperation) applied to bilateral force feedback Telemanipulators is derived.