XPRIZE will give $ 10 million to anyone who develops a robot avatar

A few years ago, the movie “Surrogates” began to be shown on the screens of cinemas, the plot of which was based on the relationships between people who in real life used avatars - mechanical copies of themselves. Avatars made it possible to feel, see, hear and smell what was happening around, plus there were several improved copies of their masters.

Now, it seems, the fairy tale is coming true. XPRIZE announces a contest with a prize fund of $ 10 million. The money will go to a company or an individual who can develop a functional avatar of a person. That is, a robot that can transmit not only visual and audio images of everything that happens outside, but also tactile sensations. Registration is open on March 12, so you can already apply .

The competition is held in conjunction with the Japanese airline All Nippon Airways (ANA). By the way, robots should give the operator the opportunity to interact with the environment, that is, to perform certain actions, both simple and quite complex. Conditions are set forth here .
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“Our ability to be present in a certain place is limited by time, and there are financial limitations. ANA Avatar XPRIZE allows you to bypass all these restrictions by sending the operator's robotic counterpart to the right place, ”said Peter Diamandis, head of the XPRIZE foundation. According to the organizers, robots avatars will provide assistance or information support in the place where it is most needed at a particular point in time.

In order to meet the conditions of the contest, an avatar needs to be controlled not a couple of meters away from you, but at least 100 km, possibly at a greater distance. Avatars should allow the operator to perform normal actions that do not constitute a problem for a person. These actions are no different from what may be needed from a person to implement a plan. For example, explore some location, move the load or perform another task.

The practical use of avatars can be quite wide - from medical care to teaching. One of the usage scenarios is the elimination of the consequences of disasters, when on-site may not be sufficiently competent professionals, doctors, engineers and others. In a difficult situation, an avatar is sent to the site, which is headed, for example, by an experienced doctor who provides patient assistance. Under the terms of the contest, avatar management should be available even for an unprepared operator. In other words, having received a robot at its disposal, the “original” person must almost immediately understand how and what to do so that the avatar can perform the necessary task.



Registration in the competition closes October 31, 2018. Teams that submit applications for participation should provide an idea and a realistic plan for its implementation. A special jury will select 25 projects, and only after that the teams will take up their implementation. The project will have two commissions. The first will provide consulting support as well as evaluate interim results. The second is the jury members, who will be responsible for selecting the winning projects after evaluating the results achieved by the participants.

The competition has two intermediate stages and a final. Intermediate are scheduled for April 2020 and April 2021. Teams that present the best projects will receive $ 1 million each. Final - October 2021. The best team with the most perfect avatar will win. This team will receive the rest of the prize fund in the amount of $ 8 million. Development of the avatar and all associated costs are borne by the team; no financial support, except for the prize fund, is provided by the competition.

XPRIZE is a foundation for supporting revolutionary innovations that are aimed at improving the life of all humanity. There are awards in four categories: energy and environment, environmental exploration, education and development, biology and medicine. Funds to the fund come from both private donations and from corporations.

The idea of ​​creating a foundation came from Peter Diamadis in 1994, after reading the book of the pilot, Charles Lindbergh. He made a flight across the Atlantic Ocean, for which a prize of $ 25,000 was provided. Thanks to this prize, or rather, the competition for the implementation of a transatlantic flight, aviation began to develop at a rapid pace. XPRIZE was founded in 1995, and in 1998 the organization received the first $ 5 million bonus fund.