Techniques for Web Telerobotics - Australia's Telerobot on the Web ...

2.2 <strong>Web</strong> <strong>Telerobot</strong>s 19
a wireframe modelling environment which runs as a Java Applet. These structures are then con-
structed by an industrial robot arm which cements 1cm rectangular elements within a 2 meter
building area. The interface is shown in figure 2.9.
Figure 2.9: The TeleZone interface. Frames are used to split the interface into many parts. Each frame
can display one of a number of interfaces. These include cameras, chat tools and help in<strong>for</strong>mation.
The interface is split into many parts with the use of frames. This is similar to the Khepera interface
described in section 2.2.5. Users can choose the contents of each frame, allowing customisation of
the interface. Contents of the frames can be camera images, virtual camera images, help, chat and
other tools. The central frame is larger than the others and contains the construction interface. The
selection of different frame contents is done using Javascript. The contents of the frames mostly
use Java and Javascript to provide interaction. The site is designed <strong>for</strong> version 4 browsers and
later.
The system makes heavy use of the fact that the environment is highly structured. Users are not
exposed to control of the actual robot; they merely specify positions <strong>for</strong> blocks. Users cannot
specify where these blocks come from; blocks are provided <strong>for</strong> the robot using a feeder. As the
environment is so structured, it is possible to present all necessary user in<strong>for</strong>mation from models,
by the use of wireframe and virtual reality. Lower level commands are possible using a robot