Design and Development of Teleoperation for Forest Machines

Abstract

Teleoperation of forestry machinery is a difficult problem. The difficulties arise because forestry machines are primarily used in unstructured and uncontrolled environments. However, improvements in technology are making implementation of teleoperation for forestry machines feasible with off-the-shelf computing and networking hardware. The state-of-the-art in teleoperation of forestry machinery is reviewed as well as teleoperation in similarly unstructured and uncontrolled environments such as mining and underwater. Haptic feedback in a general sense is also reviewed, as while haptic feedback has been implemented on some types of heavy machinery it has not yet been implemented on forestry machinery.