Avatarm: an Avatar With Manipulation Capabilities for the Physical Metaverse

PubDate: Mar 2023

Teams: University of Siena;Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia

Writers: Alberto Villani, Giovanni Cortigiani, Bernardo Brogi, Nicole D’Aurizio, Tommaso Lisini Baldi, Domenico Prattichizzo

PDF: Avatarm: an Avatar With Manipulation Capabilities for the Physical Metaverse

Abstract

Metaverse is an immersive shared space that remote users can access through virtual and augmented reality interfaces, enabling their avatars to interact with each other and the surrounding. Although digital objects can be manipulated, physical objects cannot be touched, grasped, or moved within the metaverse due to the lack of a suitable interface. This work proposes a solution to overcome this limitation by introducing the concept of a Physical Metaverse enabled by a new interface named “Avatarm”. The Avatarm consists in an avatar enhanced with a robotic arm that performs physical manipulation tasks while remaining entirely hidden in the metaverse. The users have the illusion that the avatar is directly manipulating objects without the mediation by a robot. The Avatarm is the first step towards a new metaverse, the “Physical Metaverse”, where users can physically interact each other and with the environment.