The focus in this area is on remotely controlled robots with visual capabilities that allow utility engineers and planners to assess systems remotely from their office while crews are at the inspection location.

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The robots are controlled by an 8-bit Hitachi processor embedded in an oversized Lego brick called the RCX.

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In the future technology may allow for remotely controlled surgeries, with physicians directing robots in faraway locations or even on a battlefield.

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His vision: A few years from now humanoid robots--remotely controlled by joystick jockeys at call centers in low-wage countries like China--will prepare your lunch, take out the garbage, do the laundry.

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So why are we so much better at improvising than robots -- which are essentially mechanical devices controlled by computers?

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As well as providing advantages in the range and scope of what the robots can achieve, it also creates problems of how they are controlled.

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