The competition for innovative ideas has launched to make avatar machines to be used as doctors or teachers in the poorest areas of the planet
In life we can be anything we want. Even a robot. A Japanese airline, All Nippon Airways, partner in the Xprize competition, is trying to make it possible. The idea is to encourage the development of avatar robots with the ANA avatar Xprize.
Making humans become robots may seem “only” a high-tech game. In reality, the project has a noble soul. The aim, in fact, is to help extremely poor countries and villages. In places where the absence of internet is the least of the problems, the robot avatar controlled through telexistance, by a person with certain skills, can perform the tasks of a teacher, a doctor or an architect. The idea is very ambitious and in order to succeed, the competition organization Xprize has promised a rich reward to the group of developers who will reach the goal.
What is Xprize?
The Xprize is a competition designed for development teams that propose an ambitious idea in the field of innovation, achievable within a time frame ranging from two to seven years. The prizes are very large sums of money to be allocated to the final development of prototypes. Among the most famous is the Google Lunar Xprize. A competition for non-governmental entities to launch and land a rover on the moon.
How the ANA avatar Xprize works
The ANA avatar Xprize, which will reward the best team of researchers in the field of avatar robots, will be divided into several phases. Between now and the next three years, teams will have to develop their initial prototype and pass a qualification. The top five teams will advance to the final round, an event that will also be broadcast live on television. E si divideranno una borsa da 3M di dollari.
(tratto da YouTube)
A questo punto ogni squadra dovrà superare cinque sfide in cinque ambiti diversi per il robot avatar: cucinare una frittata con cinque ingredienti, recarsi in un ipotetico luogo di un disastro e portare supporto medico, battere un tennista semi-professionista, compilare una presentazione e mischiarsi tra la folla, eseguire una serie di canzoni sul palco. Chi completa tutte le sfide vince, e i robot “umani” saranno ancora più reali. Anche perché il migliore progetto riceverà 15M di dollari per completare il robot.
Come controllare l’avatar
Fonte foto: Facebook Xprize
Avatar, il futuro della robotica
Gestire il robot è semplice. Con un visore VR vediamo attraverso i suoi occhi. Indossando dei guanti particolari e un giubbotto possiamo decidere i movimenti e i gesti del robot. Based on the interaction of the machine with its hands we will feel pressures or vibrations on our gloves. This is to make the sense of touch more realistic. Still the interaction is minimal but after the ANA avatar Xprize robots will be able to perform many complex functions.
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