The operator sees camera or sensor feeds and sends commands; the robot executes them. Quality depends on latency, since delays of even a few hundred milliseconds make precise contact tasks hard, and on feedback: force feedback through the controller, called haptics, greatly improves delicate work.
Established uses include surgical systems, where the surgeon sits at a console beside the patient, bomb disposal, underwater vehicles and nuclear decommissioning.
A newer role is data collection. Teleoperated demonstrations of everyday manipulation are the raw material for imitation learning and vision-language-action models, and many humanoid pilots run partly teleoperated while the autonomy catches up.
