Augmented Avatar Toward Both Remote Communication and Manipulation Tasks

A human being can communicate while working at the same time. However, teleoperated humanoid robots that can work and communicate simultaneously are currently too complex and expensive. We propose an “Augmented Avatar” that can perform both work and communication simultaneously at a low cost. The authors have developed two types of Avatars: a Manipulation Avatar with minimal functions tailored for work, and a Communication Avatar that mimics the human body structure to facilitate communication. The aim of this project is to develop an AVATAR system that enables operators to seamlessly operate the two avatars without using a wearable control interface. In this paper, we report on the construction and operation test results of this prototype. The prototype system has been well received in an international AVATAR competition in which 820 teams participated, placing 12th. This paper also discusses operability based on the experience gained at this competition.