If two men from All Nippon Airways (ANA) have their way, villages across the world could in future host avatars that experts could “log in” to and help the village with healthcare, engineering, education.
The avatars will be a shared service — like an Uber, or an Airbnb — so no one owns their own avatar, but they could borrow one.
The user would be outfitted with a virtual reality headset and touch sensors, then through computing and robotics, allow his consciousness to be transported instantly across the globe, to wherever the avatar is.
This is the dream of Akira Fukabori, Market Communication Intrapreneur, and Kevin Kajitani, Digital Design Lab Intrapreneur, both from ANA.
The idea came from an XPRIZE competition the pair took part in last year, during which they reimagined transportation and won top honours for this idea. This year, ANA and XPRIZE are launching another competition to let people worldwide collaborate to make this idea a reality.
Kevin Kajitani and Akira Fukabori were the prize developers behind the ANA XPRIZE avatar concept in 2016
Kajitani said that only about 6% of the global population uses ANA. He said: “We realise the need to scale from 6% to 100% and this requires thinking outside of the box, to redefine what value it is that we’re truly providing to society. We think it is in bridging the gap of distance, time and culture in the world.”
“Avatars — This technology can be scaled limitlessly.”
Fukabori said the original idea was teleportation. But they realised the technology would take more than 100 years to develop. “So we asked ourselves: If I can’t teleport myself what would the next best thing be? What if I can teleport my consciousness rather than be physically there?”
“You can go to places humans cannot, you can share your skills and expertise with people who need them the most, you can help mobilise the elderly and the impaired.”
“And if I’m using an avatar to talk to my grandfather, that’s me he is talking to and not artificial intelligence.”
Added Kajitani: “This is about the human controlling. Not being replaced by avatars but letting avatars become an extension of the human.”
The ANA XPRIZE competition will launch in early 2018.
