autoevolution
 

Robot Avatar Competition Announced by XPRIZE

A $10 million award is up for grabs from XPRIZE, at the end of a four-year global competition that aims to see the creation of the world’s first real-life, robotic avatars. The announcement, made by XPRIZE at the South By Southwest (SXSW) conference in Austin, Texas, was accompanied by the start of registrations for the teams willing to participate.
Robot avatars to become a reality thanks to XPRIZE 1 photo
Photo: hammacher.com
The latest challenge announced by the non-profit organization requires the creation of robots that can be used to provide care, help with disaster relief efforts or serve as multipurpose utility. In essence, the machine should be able to see, hear, touch and interact with people and its environment, while controlled from a distance.

As per the regulations of the competition, whatever machine would come out at the end of the development process, it should allow being controlled from at least 100 km away (62 miles) by an untrained operator. Its design should let it execute tasks across a variety of real-world scenarios.

“Our ability to physically experience another geographic location, or to provide on-the-ground assistance where needed, is limited by cost and the simple availability of time,” said Peter H. Diamandis, XPRIZE”s chairman.

“The ANA Avatar XPRIZE can enable the creation of an audacious alternative that could bypass these limitations allowing us to more rapidly and efficiently distribute skill and hands-on expertise to distant geographic locations where they are needed, bridging the gap between distance, time and cultures.”


ANA is short for All Nippon Airways, a Japanese airline that has become XPRIZE’s partner in this new competition. The two organizations will admit teams submissions for a shot at the prize by October 31, 2018. By January 31, 2019, a complete competition plan must be presented before an independent panel of judges.

Two intermediate competitions would be subsequently held, in April 2020 and April 2021, the winner of each receiving $1 million. The rest, $8 million, will be awarded in October 2021, at the end of a five-day final.

If you liked the article, please follow us:  Google News icon Google News Youtube Instagram X (Twitter)
About the author: Daniel Patrascu
Daniel Patrascu profile photo

Daniel loves writing (or so he claims), and he uses this skill to offer readers a "behind the scenes" look at the automotive industry. He also enjoys talking about space exploration and robots, because in his view the only way forward for humanity is away from this planet, in metal bodies.
Full profile

 

Would you like AUTOEVOLUTION to send you notifications?

You will only receive our top stories