Take a look at the following video, in which the CAPIO passive exoskeleton is used to teleoperate the AILA robot.
(CAPIO Exoskeleton Controls AILA Robot video)
CAPIO is a passive exoskeleton designed to tele-operate robots. This type of suit is used to control robots remotely in exploration areas where humans are in danger or in space. Using a robotic frame the user has full control to a robot and can do difficult tasks only with simple limbs movements. Used as a simple human-machine interface, the suit detects the movements of the human body and others information like force and send signals to the robot.
The exoskeleton read body movements from different points including the hands, upper arms, shoulders and hips. Total weight of the suit is 13.5 kg and for force feedback and effector in the hand is integrated an active interface.
Science fiction fans were treated to the idea of teleoperated robots in works like Cities in Flight (1957 - see teleoperated lab robot) and the teleoperated robot surrogate from The Robot and the Lady.
The idea of controlling a remote physical system by using direct bodily movement was pioneered by Robert Heinlein in the early 1940's; see waldo from Robert Heinlein's 1942 short story of the same name.
Drosophila Robotica, The Mechanical Fly
'... the Scarab [flying robot] buzzed into the great workroom as any intruding insect might...'- Raymond Z. Gallun, 1936.
Robo-Raven Flapping Wing Robot Bird
'When he had first built them, they had been crude indeed, flying mechanisms with little more than a reflex-response unit.'- Philip E. High, 1968.
Bartendro Robot Bartender
'He sipped the cognac that the robot bartender handed him...'- Alfred Bester, 1956.
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Sky City's 220 Stories Are Go
'It rested among green parklands and... stood in total isolation, a glittering block of whites and flashing windows dotted with colors.'
Robo-Raven Flapping Wing Robot Bird
'When he had first built them, they had been crude indeed, flying mechanisms with little more than a reflex-response unit.'