Robotic vehicle remote control system having a virtual operator environment

A virtual control environment for remotely operating a robotic vehicle, comprising:

• a sensor array that detects the robotic vehicle and its surrounding environment, the sensor array being located at a first location and the robotic vehicle being located at a second location remote from the first location;
• a module configured to generate a computer model of the robotic vehicle and its surrounding environment based upon information collected by the sensor array;
• a synthetic view generator module configured to create virtual views of the robotic vehicle and its surrounding environment based upon the computer model;
• a graphical user interface configured to display a virtual view created by the synthetic view generator module;
• and
• an operator control unit located at the first location and configured to control the robotic vehicle based upon the virtual view.

A method of controlling a remotely operated vehicle with a virtual images of the remotely operated vehicle, comprising:

• remotely sensing the remotely operated vehicle and its surrounding environment with a sensor array, the sensor array being located at a first location and the remotely operated vehicle being located at a second location remote from the first location;
• generating a virtual model of the remotely operated vehicle and its surrounding environment based upon information gathered by the sensor array;
• generating a virtual view of the remotely operated vehicle and its surrounding environment;
• displaying the virtual view on a graphical user interface;
• and
• controlling, using a controller, the operation of the remotely operated vehicle based upon viewing the virtual view, the controller being located at the first location.