Science & Tech
XPRIZE, the world’s leader in designing and operating incentive competitions to solve humanity’s grand challenges, has announced that 38 teams from 16 countries are advancing to the semifinals round
of the $10M ANA Avatar XPRIZE competition.
Sponsored by All Nippon Airways (ANA), Japan’s largest airline, the Avatar XPRIZE is a four-year global competition focused on the development of an avatar system that will deploy a human’s senses, actions, and presence to a remote location in real-time, leading to a more connected world.
These avatars must demonstrate the ability to execute tasks across a variety of real-world scenarios and convey a sense of presence
for both the operator and the recipient in those interactions. In the future, avatars could help provide critical care and deploy immediate responses in emergency situations, or offer opportunities for exploration and new ways of collaboration, stretching the
boundaries of what is possible and maximizing the impact of skill and knowledge sharing.
“We are rapidly approaching an era where it will be possible for a doctor in New York to export their skillset virtually to respond to a natural disaster across the globe,” said Anousheh Ansari, CEO of XPRIZE.
“The task at hand for these incredible semifinalists
teams competing in the ANA Avatar XPRIZE is to break through physical limitations and expand the capacity of humankind itself through transformative robotic avatar technology.”
In February 2021, qualified teams completed their semifinalist selection submissions—the second round of technical submissions for evaluation by the judging panel.
Each team submitted a comprehensive write-up detailing their avatar system’s capabilities and their development plans, accompanied by a demonstration video showcasing their technology in action.
The judges extensively reviewed the submissions and selected 38 semifinalists to advance out of the field of 77 qualified teams.
The ANA Avatar XPRIZE semifinalist teams are:
1to1Robotics, Hackensack, New Jersey, United States·
Aham, Bangalore, India·
Augnition, Helsinki, Finland·
AvaDynamics, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States·
Avatar Quest, San Jose, California, United States·
AVATRINA, Urbana, Illinois, United States·
BellContinuous, Arlington, Texas, United States·
Cyberselves, Sheffield, United Kingdom·
Dragon Tree Labs, Moscow, Russia·
ENZO AVATAR, Bucaramanga, Colombia·
Forged Droids, Tempe, Arizona, United States·
GITAI, Tokyo, Japan·
H2L, Tokyo, Japan·
Human Fusions, Cleveland, Ohio, United States·
i-Botics, Utrecht, Netherlands·
iCub, Genoa, Italy·
Inbiodroid, Irapuato, Mexico·
Janus, Tsukuba, Japan·
Junnichi Suko, Tokyo, Japan·
Kimaera Dynamics, Toronto, Canada·
Last Mile – small world project 2, Osaka, Japan·
Limitless, Lugano, Switzerland·
NimbRo, Bonn, Germany·
Pollen Robotics, Bordeaux, France·
proRobot, Vysoké Mýto, Czech Republic·
Resilient, St. Louis, Missouri, United States·
Robot Guru (HoloSuit), Mysuru, India·
Robotics Services LLC, Providence, Rhode Island, United States·
Roboy, Munich, Germany·
Sant·'Anna, Pisa, Italy
SYNAPSE, Tokyo, Japan·
Team Northeastern, Boston, Massachusetts, United States·
Team SNU, Ulsan, South Korea·
Team UNIST, Seoul, South Korea·
Telexistence, Tokyo, Japan·
Touchlab, Edinburgh, United Kingdom·
Virtual Sapiens, Chennai, India·
X-Presence, Kobe, Japan·
Additional details about all competing teams can be found here.
“The breakthroughs that will develop out of the ANA Avatar XPRIZE have the potential to entirely reimagine the human experience,” said David Locke, Executive Prize Director of ANA Avatar XPRIZE.
“We’re thrilled to announce the semifinalist teams and are
excited to put their technologies to the test, and experience their ability to transport our sense of presence, during semifinals testing this fall.”
Now that the semifinalist teams have been chosen, we are one very important step closer to realizing our dream of revolutionizing human connection,” said Mitsuo Tomita, Senior Vice President of Marketing at All Nippon Airways.
“As a company whose mission it is to connect people, we are beyond excited to see the technology that will be developed by these 38 teams. We are eager to see the innovative ways in which the teams will light up our imaginations with visions of a future in which travel and human connection are limitless.”
After the completion of semifinals testing in Fall 2021, up to 20 teams will equally split a Semifinals prize purse of $2M and move on to finals testing in Summer 2022. There, they will compete to win a share of the $8m finals prize purse.
The grand prize will be awarded in June 2022 after finals testing, which will include performance tests based on specific tasks that showcase the application of avatar technologies across several use case scenarios.
The winning team will integrate multiple emerging technologies to develop a physical, nonautonomous avatar system with which an operator can see, hear, and interact within a remote environment in a
the manner that feels as if they are truly there.
The ANA Avatar Advisory Board has been integral in the competition since its launch in January 2019. The group consists of esteemed robotics experts, haptics inventors, psychology professors, top entertainment researchers, virtual world creators, the computer
vision dynamos and more.
– Apr. 07, 2021 @ 17:43 GMT
Tags: Semifinalist Teams Selected in $10M ANA Avatar XPRIZE Competition
