August 9, 2018
The University of Tokyo
Keio University
Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST)
Key Points
We have developed "Fusion," a remote collaborative work system equipped with a robot head and robot arms to share movements and skills among multiple people.
The system enables collaborative work with a shared perspective, which has been difficult with conventional telexistence and telepresence robots.
It is expected to have applications in embodied collaborative work and skill learning between geographically distant locations.
Abstract
Effective communication linked to physical information is a crucial element when sharing movements and skills among multiple people, which often involves social and professional contexts. However, in remote communication, the sharing of movements is limited to visual information. In this study, we have developed "Fusion," a remote collaborative work system that uses a wearable robot to interact with and manipulate another person's body from a remote location, enabling communication in a manner similar to the traditional two-person tandem performance known as ninin-baori.
The developed system allows a remote operator and a local user wearing the robot to share a space from nearly the same perspective, enabling embodied collaborative work via robot arms. The end-effectors of the robot arms are interchangeable. By replacing the robotic hands for collaborative work with wristbands attached to the user's arms, the system can also be used for motion instruction and physical support.
The results of this research will be presented at the international conference SIGGRAPH 2018, to be held in Vancouver, Canada, on August 12, 2018.
For the full press release, please see below.