Effect of force feedback on a bulldozer-type robot
Utilizing remote-controlled robots in damage restoration activities in disaster-affected areas such as those affected by a debris avalanche or an earthquake has significantly increased. Various types of remote-controlled robots have been successfully used along with construction machines in damage restoration activities in disaster-affected areas. Recently, a bulldozer-type robot removed the earth and sand deposited over a wide area because of a debris avalanche. To enable prompt damage restoration activities in disaster-affected areas, an efficient remote operation using robots is required. We study a remote-controlled bulldozer-type robot that moves objects using a system wherein the status of the stress applied on the bulldozer blade is provided as a force feedback to the operator. After conducting evaluation experiments, we could verify that the operating system providing force feedback to the operator shortened the operation time compared with the one that displayed visual information only on the operating screen.
Effects of visual information on a remote-controlled robot
To efficiently perform work using a remote-controlled robot, an image display device that allows the operator to verify the working area from a single view is necessary. Furthermore, this device should provide high-resolution images of locations so that the operator can recognize depths in detail. To meet these requirements, conventional three-dimensional image devices used multiple cameras and display screens for the right and left eye. In this study, we developed a camera device using a camera and a display, which can provide a wide-range view while providing high resolution for the central part of images using a mirror. We evaluated the effectiveness and verified that operators can accurately conduct a remote operation in a short period of time; this was possible using high-definition spatial information from a composite screen and continually adapting to changes in the surrounding environment that could be viewed at a wide range. The experiment also revealed that the composite screen ratio can be altered as required.
The Area of Freedom, Security and Justice ten years on: Successes and future challenges under the Stockholm Programme. CEPS Paperbacks. June 2010
This book celebrates the tenth anniversary of the Area of Freedom, Security and Justice (AFSJ) by bringing together the views of key practitioners and policy-makers who have played an outstanding role in thinking about and shaping EU policies on freedom, security and justice. 
 
Ten years ago, the member states transferred competences to the EU for law and policy-making in the fields of immigration, asylum and border controls, and began the transfer process for criminal justice and policing. This decade of European cooperation on AFSJ policies has experienced very dynamic convergence, the enactment of a large body of European law and the setting-up of numerous EU agencies working in these domains. Such dynamism in policy-making has not been without challenges and vulnerabilities, however. As this collective volume shows, the main dilemmas that lie ahead relate to an effective (while more plural) institutional framework under the Treaty of Lisbon, stronger judicial scrutiny through a greater role for national courts and the Court of Justice in Luxembourg, better mechanisms for evaluating and monitoring the implementation of EU AFSJ law and a more solid fundamental rights strategy. The contributions in this volume address the progress achieved so far in these policy areas, identify the challenges for future European cooperation in the AFSJ and put forward possible paths for making more progress in the next generation of the EU’s AFSJ.