Remote manipulator

Short description: Device for controlling a hand-like mechanism

Manipulator arms inside the Hot Bay of the Engine Maintenance Assembly and Disassembly Facility at Area 25 of the Nevada Test Site

A remote manipulator, also known as a telefactor, telemanipulator, or waldo (after the 1942 short story "Waldo" by Robert A. Heinlein),[1] is a device which, through electronic, hydraulic, or mechanical linkages, allows a hand-like mechanism to be controlled by a human operator. The purpose of such a device is usually to move or manipulate hazardous materials for reasons of safety, similar to the operation and play of a claw crane game.

## Contents

* 1 History
* 2 See also
* 3 References
* 4 External links

## History

Cayce Pentecost, Lyndon B. Johnson, Buford Ellington and Albert Gore Sr operating mechanical hands at a hot cell at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, on October 19, 1958

In 1945, the company Central Research Laboratories[2] was given the contract to develop a remote manipulator for the Argonne National Laboratory. The intent was to replace devices which manipulated highly radioactive materials from above a sealed chamber or hot cell, with a mechanism which operated through the side wall of the chamber, allowing a researcher to stand normally while working.

The result was the Master-Slave Manipulator Mk. 8, or MSM-8, which became the iconic remote manipulator[3] seen in newsreels and movies, such as The Andromeda Strain or THX 1138.

Robert A. Heinlein claimed a much earlier origin for remote manipulators.[4] He wrote that he got the idea for the "waldos" used in his story after reading a 1918 article in Popular Mechanics about "a poor fellow afflicted with myasthenia gravis ... [who] devised complicated lever arrangements to enable him to use what little strength he had." A 2021 article in Science Robotics on robots, science fiction, and nuclear accidents[5] discusses how the science fiction waldos are now a major type of real-world robots used in the nuclear industry.

## See also

* Glovebox
* Dextre
* Doctor Octopus
* Teleoperation
* Telerobotics
* Master/slave (technology)
* Avatar (computing)
* Pantograph
* Man-Machine

## References

1. ↑ Technovelgy Science Fiction Dictionary: waldo
2. ↑ "CRL history". http://www.destaco.com/crl-products-equipment.html.
3. ↑ "Telemanipulator page". http://www.destaco.com/telemanipulators.html.
4. ↑ Heinlein, Robert A. (1957), "Science fiction: its nature, faults and virtues", in Davenport, Basil, The Science Fiction Novel, Chicago: Advent, 1959
5. ↑ Robin, Murphy (2021). "Robots, science fiction, and nuclear accidents". Science Robotics (AAAS) 6 (55). doi:10.1126/scirobotics.abj4344. PMID 34162746. https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/scirobotics.abj4344. Retrieved 4 April 2023.

## External links

* Central Research Laboratories web site
* A video of a Remote Manipulator being used to make an origami crane [1]
* Master-slave manipulator at Argonne National Laboratory [2]
* Zeleny, Milan (2005). Human systems management: Integrating Knowledge, Management. World Scientific. p. 142. ISBN 981-02-4913-6. https://books.google.com/books?id=Tbb3O5uigCAC&dq=waldo+nuclear+teleoperated&pg=PA142.

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