The greatest challenge in constructing a remote lab is the user interface. Several groups have remote robots that are difficult to control because there is inadequate feedback on where the robot is and what it is doing. This is understandable since the aim of most projects is to test whether remote manipulation works, not to design a teaching user interface. At present none is a substitute for sitting next to the robot and watching its actions. Consider the example of programming a robot to pick up a block and drop it in a bucket.
Presently students are physically next to the robot and can see exactly what it is doing.
If their program doesn t work they can see whether the robot missed the block, whether it didn t grip properly, whether the block slipped out of its grasp, whether it knocked against the side of the bucket, and so on. The interfaces to remote robots leave a great deal of guesswork to what is happening. The user interface to test equipment and other input devices is easier to design because there is no movement of equipment, just different types of results. For example, electron microscopes already have computer controlled interfaces so a remote electron microscope would just involve a greater distance between the interface and the microscope. Another possible form of remote laboratory arose from discussions with Lesley Allinson of Humberside's Psychology Department.