
Smooth teleoperator: The rise of the remote controller - thedrbrian
https://venturebeat.com/2020/08/17/smooth-teleoperator-the-rise-of-the-remote-controller/
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jam
Our company [1] works with a large number of autonomous robotics companies of
varying scales, tasks, and morphologies. Teleoperation is a regular part of
the workflow for many.

It is an exceptionally good time to be building specialized hardware &
autonomy systems for a task and then providing that system as a service to
customers. This article went into a few examples, but by our count there are
~800-1000 companies currently operating with this model.

Happy to answer any questions about how people doing this deal with the myriad
of issues (both business and technological). It’s a fairly new thing, but
extremely well suited to the future.

[1] [https://formant.io](https://formant.io)

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petra
Thank you.

One of the possibilities of teleoperation, labor arbitrage to low-cost
countries, and a response by regulators, to protect the local labor force and
only allow them to run remotely operated jobs.

Does it still makes ecojomic sense to use teleoperation extensively in this
case ? Are there any new efficiencies besides in-country wage differences ?
Could this really become a big job category in the future ?

~~~
jam
It's important to keep in mind that teleoperation is always paired with an
(initially quite immature) autonomy system. Just as blakesterz called out in
the sibling comment, the strategy here is to start with high volume of
teleoperation and then scale up autonomy over time, essentially increasing the
productive output of one teleoperator.

We see companies all across the board, from 1:1 (or even multiple people
always watching at once) to over 1:100 in operator / robot ratio.

In practical terms, this usually takes the form of operators being notified of
situations that they have to resolve, and switching between systems
frequently.

Once you're above a certain level of productivity, the cost of the
teleoperator is negligible... so it doesn't really matter where you locate the
labor as long as you have a reasonable path to reaching a high ratio using
autonomy.

Fortunately, getting robots out in the world lets you gather the data needed
to improve your autonomy system, and so it's worth it to get out there early
as long as it's safe.

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blakesterz
When an interviewer pressed Postmates VP Ali Kashani last year on whether the
company’s use of teleoperation technology was an “admission” that AI alone
can’t solve all of the challenges its robots encounter on sidewalks, Kashani
swiftly retorted: “That’s a strategy, not an admission.”

That's a smooth answer! I didn't know what 'teleoperation' meant, it just
means those bots are being operated remotely, at least partially. Somehow I've
not seen that term before.

"Operators can use the software to monitor fleets or draw a path for a robot
to follow. When necessary, they can even take over and control the vehicle
directly."

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petra
The reality, regarding jobs, about all of this: jobs will be outsourced to
countries with cheaper labor.

It's already happening: kiwibots, which runs teleoperated delivery robots, is
using drivers from Colombia, for $2/hour.

~~~
liability
Legislation requiring companies to pay remote workers at least the minimum
wage of the location the remotely operated machine is located in seems like a
good idea.

When operating machines in California workers should be paid the Californian
minimum wage. Companies that refuse should be denied the opportunity to
operate in California.

~~~
jam
I'd be interested in how you'd propose to make that work when operators may be
jumping in to a robot anywhere on the planet from one minute to the next.
Require logging and reporting on when remote labor was used to support the tax
jurisdiction you're operating in? It seems that would also require reporting
to every locality you operate robots in individually, which is currently not
necessary.

Would you propose to use the same method for other remote services such as
call center support?

~~~
liability
That would be a problem for these companies to figure.

> _It seems that would also require reporting to every locality you operate
> robots in individually_

Yes, exactly. That should be required. Also your call center idea is pretty
good too, though I think not quite as clear cut as having remote laborers use
robotic bodies to circumvent minimum wage laws.

~~~
jam
The call center example is actually more relevant than you might imagine. The
jobs often look very similar to remote tech support in practice. In fact, some
companies running call centers have begun offering remote support to
autonomous systems as an expansion of their market.

This type of labor falls pretty squarely in the "information work" category,
and often (as in your Kiwi example) looks mostly like operators performing a
high-level task like specifying waypoints on a map.

