Patent ID: 6845297

Claim:
A system for tele-operating a robot in an environment, comprising: a user interface for controlling the tele-operation of the robot; an imaging device associated with the robot for providing image information representative of the environment around the robot; means for transmitting the image information to the user interface; means for converting the image information to a user-perceptible image at the user interface; means for designating one or more waypoints located anywhere in the user-perceptible image towards which the robot will move, the waypoint in the user-perceptible image towards which the robot will first move being designated as the active waypoint using an icon; means for automatically converting the location of the active waypoint in the user-perceptible image into a target location having x, y, and z coordinates in the environment of the robot; means for providing real-time instructions to the robot from the user interface to move the robot from the robot's current location in the environment to the x, y, and z coordinates of the target location in the environment; and means for moving the icon representing the active waypoint in the user-perceptible image to a new location in the user-perceptible image while the robot is executing the real-time instructions; wherein the location-converting means automatically converts the new location of the icon representing the active waypoint into a new target location having x, y, and z coordinates in the environment of the robot towards which the robot will move.