Abstract-- This paper discusses the necessary considerations and adjustments that allow a recently proposed avatar system architecture to be used with different robotic avatar morphologies (both wheeled and legged robots with various types of hands and kinematic structures) for the purpose of enabling remote (intercontinental) telepresence under communication bandwidth restrictions. The case studies reported involve robots using both position and torque control modes, independently of their software middleware. In Walt Disney's carousel of progress, actions of an actor wearing a "control harness" are pre-recorded on tapes and The actions and facial expressions, when played back, are almost life-like inspiring awe in the audience. Even with the lack of feedback to the actor, and the limited distance covered, this represents an early example (being now a 60-if; (i) on the operator side; the feeling of being present year-old attraction) of a telerobotic application. For instance, applications thus necessitate both manipulation and/or there needs to be a "face" encouraging social interaction locomotion capabilities on the part of the robotic avatar.

Try Hyperloop, rocket travel, and robotic avatars. Hyperloop is currently working towards 670 mph (1080 kph) passenger pods, capable of zipping us from Los Angeles to downtown Las Vegas in under 30 minutes. Rocket Travel (think SpaceX's Starship) promises to deliver you almost anywhere on the planet in under an hour. Think New York to Shanghai in 39 minutes. As 5G connectivity, hyper-realistic virtual reality, and next-gen robotics continue their exponential progress, the emergence of "robotic avatars" will all but nullify the concept of distance, replacing human travel with immediate remote telepresence.

The promise of oceanic discovery has intrigued scientists and explorers, whether to study underwater ecology and climate change, or to uncover natural resources and historic secrets buried deep at archaeological sites. To meet the challenge of accessing oceanic depths, Stanford University, working with KAUST's Red Sea Research Center and MEKA Robotics, developed Ocean One, a bimanual force-controlled humanoid robot that affords immediate and intuitive haptic interaction in oceanic environments.

The discussion focuses on the development of Ocean One, a bimanual humanoid robotic diver that brings intuitive haptic physical interaction to oceanic environments. The robot was deployed during an expedition in the Mediterranean to Louis XIV's flagship Lune, lying off the coast of Toulon at 91 meters. Ocean One's demonstrated ability to distance humans physically from dangerous and unreachable spaces, while connecting their skills, intuition, and experience to the task, promises to fundamentally alter remote work. Robotic avatars will search for and acquire materials, build infrastructure, and perform disaster-prevention and recovery operations - be it deep in oceans and mines, on mountain tops, or in space.

Most of the autonomous vehicles that you're likely to encounter in the near future are either Level 2 or Level 4 autonomous. Level 2, which you'll find in a Tesla on the highway, means that the car drives itself in specific situations but expects you to be paying attention the entire time. Level 4 y...

When Christian Johnson began his summer 2012 internship at the information management branch of NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, he little suspected that he'd soon be virtually tooling around the center via a vaguely humanoid robot on wheels. Once classes began in the fall, the 18-year-old had to finish up his senior year of high school in Buffalo, New York and needed to telecommute to continue his work as data analytics specialist at the research center. One of his co-workers had heard about a company called VGo Communications that makes a wheeled personal avatar, or what it calls a "productivity improvement solution," that lets people see and hear--and be seen and be heard--from far away. The co-worker wrote a proposal urging Langley's CIO to buy a VGo unit, and the CIO's office approved the purchase of one of the robotic avatars so that Johnson could use it to move virtually through the building and attend meetings--just one of the new ways robots are making their mark in business today. Industrial robots have been around since the early 1960s and have been used mainly in automotive plants.