[ExI] Planetary exploration by telepresence

[BillK]

"Exploration telepresence" may virtually get people to Mars
Ben Coxworth June 22, 2017

<http://newatlas.com/exploration-telepresence/50170/>

Quote:

In a typical scenario, astronauts would travel to another planet, but
they wouldn't go down to its surface. Instead they would park their
ship in orbit around the planet, then send down telepresence robots.
The astronauts would be remotely controlling the robots from the ship,
seeing through their cameras and controlling their manipulator arms as
if they were there themselves. Because of the short transmission
distance involved, the communications lag would only be a fraction of
a second.

When the mission was over, the robots would simply be left behind.
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This could be a useful interim method before self-controlled AI robots
are developed. And before a permanent base is established with all the
expensive gear needed to support humans.


BillK