Researchers at the IIT-Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (Italian Institute of Technology) in Genova, Italy have developed the iCub 3 Avatar System, which basically lets you control a bipedal humanoid robot from anywhere in the world for remote tourism. This means the human operator may feel and experience where the avatar is, whether it be Piazza San Marco or the Eiffel Tower. The system is currently in the prototype phase and may be further developed to be applied for other scenarios, like disaster response and even the metaverse.
How does it work? It uses a custom advanced software architecture, designed by the IIT researchers, that controls and manages the link between the iCub3 robot as well as the iFeel system. This system allows the integration of commercial wearable technologies, such as when the remote user walks in-place inside a omnidirectional VR platform that allows them to move their upper-body freely.
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We believe that this research direction has a tremendous potential in many fields. On the one hand, the recent pandemic taught us that advanced telepresence systems might become necessary very quickly across different fields, like healthcare and logistics. On the other hand, avatars may allow people with severe physical disabilities to work and accomplish tasks in the real world via the robotic body. This may be an evolution of rehabilitation and prosthetics technologies,” said Daniele Pucci, Principal Investigator of the Artificial and Mechanical Intelligence (AMI) Lab at IIT in Genova.
