Latest Update: Real-life Avatar Developed In Japan By Fisher Capital Management World News

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Researchers in Japan have introduced a robot that can move in sync with a human wearing its counterpart kit that has sensors and controllers. The human operator can talk, hear, see and feel through the robot, making it a fully functioning avatar.

The project was undertaken by the Graduate School of Media and Design of Keio University in Minato, Tokyo. Professor Susumu Tachi who is an expert in virtual reality and engineering said that further development of their technology can create useful robots that will replace humans in doing dangerous work (and in the same breath hopes that they do not inspire any kind of hazardous fraud).

Telexistence Surrogate Anthropomorphic Robot (Telesar V) is not made solely to entertain us but rather as a preliminary to other robots that will be made for deployment on dangerous locations. Compared to wheeled robots being used at present, Telesar has more flexibility.

Capturing human movement in such a scale and accuracy is not an easy task. The Telesar has 7 joints in its arms and 8 on its head, allowing the body to move in 7 various directions. Video cameras are attached on ...
... its head to serve as the ‘eyes’, linked to a 3D head display on the human user’s side. The video feed allows for the operator to see in 3D.

A number of attachable devices such as gloves and headset are used by the human operator to control the robot and perform tasks like moving objects.

The sensors attached to the vest, HMD and the gloves detect the human’s movement (enabling the robot to mimic the user’s body) and allow the operator to sense things.

The robot is also geared with microphones to pick up sounds around it and speakers so that the human operating it can be heard by people nearby.
The polyester gloves lined with small motors and semiconductors enable the user to actually feel what the robot is touching (and determine hotness or coldness and its texture). It can also make the human feel the shape of the object the robot is holding — even something as small as a brick of Lego.

Although the system is still in the prototype phase, Professor Susumu Tachi said he wants their robots to be used mainly in decommissioning nuclear reactors in Fukushima — a process that can take up to 30 years and is extremely dangerous for humans to be exposed to.

This technology that makes it possible for robots to literally represent a human will undeniably be useful in medical surgery, space explorations and bomb disposal. Furukawa Mashahiro, a member of the Telesar team, said that their objective is to make it feel like you really are in another place.

The Japanese government has recently announced that they are planning to create a farm that is operated only by robots — nope, not a fraud.

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