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Giving Avatars Real Bodies

Posted by Zonk on from the not-sponsored-by-ubisoft dept.

trogador writes "Researchers are working to associate online avatars with physical bodies, connecting virtual reality robots with steel and software counterparts. The unification of software and mobility like this results in the so-called 'Ubibot' (ubiquitous robot), which the researchers predict is the future of interactive robotics. In the future, avatars on your pc/cell/pda screen may be able to bring you your tea or scratch your back. 'Two key components of the interface involve the sensor mapper and behavior mapper. The sensor mapper helps Rity get physical (ultrasound) sensor information from Mybot, enabling the virtual avatar to use physical information. The behavior mapper helps Rity actually perform physical behaviors using Mybot in a real environment, enabling the avatar to interact physically with human beings in real environments.'"

10 of 88 comments (clear)

  1. Rommie! by jdigriz · · Score: 3, Funny

    Andromeda Ascendant, is that you?

  2. Great! by jtroutman · · Score: 5, Funny

    Now I won't ever have to leave WoW to get food or drinks! Can the avatar shower for me, too?

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    1. Re:Great! by badboy_tw2002 · · Score: 5, Funny

      Why would you shower? If you play an orc, you should smell like an orc. This is ROLE PLAYING dammit!

  3. Ultimate outsourcing by wurp · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I thought of this some time ago, but for outsourcing. Imagine if you could pay $4000 for a ubibot, then pay someone in the third world $0.50 an hour to do housework, yard work, etc. for you through a VR interface.

    They get a safe job that pays reasonably for their area, and you get cheap labor.

  4. Hide the children by MSTCrow5429 · · Score: 3, Funny
    "...enabling the avatar to interact physically with human beings in real environments."

    We all know where this is leading to...

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    1. Re:Hide the children by complete+loony · · Score: 4, Funny

      Finally a device I can use to stab someone in the face over the internet.

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  5. Pikers! by Bullfish · · Score: 3, Funny

    Scratch my back? Bring me beer? Make with the sexbot like other scientists promised and I'll use a stick and put my beer in a cooler nearby.

  6. Sounds kind of cool... for the East by solar_blitz · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I've got mixed feelings. Yeah, having a real-life thing to be your companion sounds nice but if you want that kind of companionship you might want to get a real pet. Then again in areas like South Korea and Japan - where these things would likely flourish - people don't own pets that much. Here's where I can see this going: for a group of nations whose children grew up watching things like Astro Boy, of course they'd have an appreciation of this real world robot/digital world avatar. But we westerners having been raised on I, Robot have a negative outlook on robotics.

    Are we robophobic in the United States?

  7. They are called Replicons.... by o0OSABO0o · · Score: 2, Funny

    and cleaning them up is a very, very messing business. Just ask Harrison Ford.

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  8. Exercise by peektwice · · Score: 3, Funny

    Given that this is Slashdot, and the only exercise that "some" (not all... I didn't say all...) Slashdotters get is in the jackatorium, obesity among Slashdotters on average is only going to escalate, if we develop a robot that will do it (punch the munchkin) for them. See this article for further reference. Get a girlfriend. A real one. Even if she's not Princess Leia.

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