By Spooky, July 1, 2025 Category: Technology
Japanese technology company H2L created a capsule that allows anyone to control a robot avatar remotely just like the blockbuster of the same name by James Cameron. Imagine being able control a robotic avatar from a massage chair. According to Japanese company H2L Inc. this concept is more realistic than we realize. H2L’s ‘Capsule interface’, which is designed to be used with a bed or chair, has a muscle displacement sensors, speaker and display. This allows the user to send bodily sensory data to a robot to perform various tasks. By moving your feet, you can make the robot walk. Similarly, moving your hands will allow the robot to lift or push items for you.
This advanced capsule interface has a high-precision sensor that detects very small movements caused by the muscles of the user contracting and expanding. It can convey tactile nuances to the robot, such as pushing and pulling weights, that optical trackers cannot convey. The capsule’s display also provides audiovisual information from the robot, which enhances the user’s connection with the avatar. According to H2L’s capsule, users can experience a synchronization of their own movements with the robot, making them feel like their body was transported to another place.
H2L researches “proprioceptive feedback (kinesthetic),” which would allow a robot to return a sense of pressure and touch to the user. This will allow the user not only to transmit force and movement to the robot but also to feel the impact.
In the near future, the recently unveiled H2L interface will be available for a price of 30 million Japanese yen ($208,000). The price is not low enough to appeal to the mass market, but if it proves popular, prices will drop.
