Cyberselves reaches finals of global competition for ‘teleporting’ humans into sense-relaying robots

2021/11/23 Innoverview Read

UK robotics firm Cyberselves has reached the finals of a global robotics competition for its tech which “teleports” humans into robots that can relay what they see, hear, and feel.

The Sheffield-based company entered the prestigious Avatar XPRIZE global robotics competition and is one of just two British firms to make it to the finals. The other company is Edinburgh-based Touchlab.

Daniel Camilleri, Co-Founder and CTO at Cyberselves, said:

“We are incredibly proud to have made it into the finals of the Avatar XPRIZE.

Our Teleport app makes the remote operation of robots both powerfully effective and functionally simple. With a smartphone, browser, or VR headset, the user can take remote control of any robot in a way that is intuitive to the human body.

The system has already been integrated with underwater ROVs, land-based UGVs, and humanoid social robots.”

Avatar XPRIZE is a $10 million four-year global competition that focuses on the development of an avatar system that can deploy a human’s senses, actions, and presence to a remote location in real-time.

“Sending signals through our cloud-based, low-latency communications platform, Animus, a movement made by a human operator in Europe could be carried out almost simultaneously by a robot in the United States,” added Camilleri.

“This seamless functionality is what makes the technology so promising for numerous real-world applications, from inspecting offshore wind farms to supporting disaster recovery.”

The cross-industry potential for such an avatar system is near limitless, with humans being able to bring their unique abilities to situations that could be dangerous or far away.

Anousheh Ansari, CEO of XPRIZE, said:

“The possibility of living in a world where individuals can provide aid during a crisis in a different country without ever leaving the comfort of their homes is closer than ever.

While it’s been difficult this year to predict what the future will bring for the evolving health landscape, these avatar solutions will solve real-world problems and can bring people together in more ways than ever before.

We’re looking forward to supporting these incredible finalist teams competing in the ANA Avatar XPRIZE and their technology into the future.”

Aside from Cyberselves and Touchlab, the other XPRIZE finalists are:

  • NimbRo, Bonn, Germany

  • Dragon Tree Labs, Moscow, Russia

  • Team Northeastern, Boston, Massachusetts, United States

  • AVATRINA, Urbana, Illinois, United States

  • Converge Robotics, Chico, California, United States

  • Avatar-Hubo, Las Vegas, United States

  • Team SNU, Seoul, South Korea

  • Pollen Robotics, Bordeaux, France

  • Last Mile, Osaka, Japan

  • Team UNIST, Ulsan, South Korea

  • Inbiodroid, Irapuato, Mexico

  • Rezilient, St. Louis, Missouri, United States

  • AvaDynamics, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States

Cyberselves was commended for the versatility of its Teleport application that can be used on any robotic system. The majority of competing technologies can only be used with specific compatible robotics hardware and operating systems.

The company was recently awarded funding for two projects – TEL-E3 and TEL-SUBSEA – that are part of an £800,000 programme run by the Defence and Security Accelerator (DASA).

TEL-E3 focuses on the integration of immersive control and haptic feedback with unmanned ground vehicles. TEL-SUBSEA is aimed towards advancing the development of telexistence technologies for underwater robots.

XPRIZE’s finals will take place in Autumn 2022 and teams will compete for a share of $8 million. The grand prize winner will take home $5 million while second and third place will receive $2 million and $1 million respectively.

(Source: IoT News Cyberselves reaches finals of global competition for ‘teleporting’ humans into sense-relaying robots (iottechnews.com)