Advancement of remote technology: past perspectives and future plans

In the Consolidated Fuel Reprocessing Program at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, a comprehensive remote systems development program has existed for the past five years. The new remote technology under development is expected to significantly improve remote operations by extending the range of admissible remote tasks and increasing remote work efficiency. The motivation and justification for the program are discussed by surveying the 40 years of remote operating experience which exists and considering the essential features of various old and new philosophies which have been, or are being, used in remote engineering. A future direction based upon the Remotex concept is explained, and recent progress in the development of an advanced servomanipulator-based maintenance concept is summarized to show that a new generation of remote systems capability is feasible through advanced technology. 20 references, 10 figures, 1 table.