Tele-service-robot: Integrating the socio-technical framework of human service through the InterNet-world-wide-web

In a recent survey of robotics in rehabilitative human service, Stanger et al. (1994) re-established the central role of task assessment in defining technical R&D priorities. Among their key findings, and central to the thesis of this paper, is the re-affirmation that engineers and scientists, intent on being helpful, must first assess just who is being served, where they are, what they are trying to do and who is going to pay for it. Moreover, the cost associated with an integral socio-technical framework that addresses user needs for interaction, support and maintenance after the initial installation is the real driver toward adoption of robotics technology over equivalent human service.