Robot avatars have been a sci-fi staple for decades, letting fictional humans remotely carry out delicate and dextrous tasks, from hospital care to mining on the Moon. But, as usual, our imagination outstrips reality. The best commercially available “avatars” are telepresence bots, which are little more than iPads on wheels, while cutting-edge humanoid robots look flashy but struggle to keep their balance. The X Prize Foundation wants to change this, and today, it announced its latest challenge: building “real-world avatars” by 2021.
https://www.theverge.com/2018/3/12/17109904/robot-avatar-competition-x-prize-foundation