Avatar Robot Bringing People Together
RISING - 2016
DESCRIPTION
Orihime is a desktop avatar robot that can be controlled remotely from anywhere in the world. Its creator, Kentaro Yoshifuji was inspired by his own childhood experiences of suffering from loneliness to produce a robot to connect those unable, through physical illness or anxiety, to leave their homes and interact with others. Unlike AI-equipped robots, Orihime is human-controlled, allowing users to participate by proxy at conferences or school, with eye-tracking controls under development for those with full paralysis.