The $10 Million ANA Avatar XPRIZE Competition: How It Advanced Immersive Telepresence Systems

Abstract

Imagine how your life would change if you could instantly transport yourself anywhere in the world. Transcending the barriers of distance and travel time would enable many activities that are impossible today, including being present at remote events, connecting with family, friends, or colleagues, and efficiently distributing skills and hands-on expertise to locations wherever they are needed, e.g., to provide critical care and to deploy immediate emergency response in natural disaster scenarios. While the <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">Star Trek</i> transporter technology is yet to be invented, the closest thing to beaming is telepresence in an avatar robot.