foreword for the book: Avatar Dreams
January 1, 2021
IMAGE
— contents —
~ letter | from Ray Kurzweil
~ foreword | by Ray Kurzweil
~ webpages
~ about: avatars
~ about: the X Prize Foundation
~ about: the Avatar X Prize
~ about: the book
— letter —
Hello,
I hope you’ll enjoy the book Avatar Dreams. In the book, leading science fiction authors explore the revolutionary impact of new robot avatar technology in 14 creative stories.
I wrote the foreword — you can read it below. Avatar Dreams is a short story collection, edited by award-winning writers Kevin J. Anderson + Mike Resnick.
The book was inspired by the X Prize Foundation’s robotics competition called the Avatar X Prize. For the prize, global teams are competing to build the world’s first robots that can be operated by a human at-a-distance — to solve big problems for humanity. In the world of automation an ‘avatar’ is a human-styled robot that has a mechanical body with senses, limbs, tools, and mobility.
You can think of it like a mechanical surrogate that you can operate from far away. It gives you: sight, sound, touch, grip — anywhere you send your avatar. For exxample: sitting at home, you could take your avatar out on the town — to walk around, see a movie, and go shopping.
For the Avatar X Prize, teams of robotics engineers must design an avatar that can do sophisticated tasks at-a-distance. They test the robot on serious challenges to see who wins. The goal of the prize is to build real robots that could travel internationally — helping people + animals in need.
A remote controlled robot is a strong tele-presence. The avatar’s skilled human operator can be ‘virtually’ deployed into high-risk situations that need heroic levels of capability — without going in-person. The human operator can navigate their robot from a distance by locking-in to remote control equipment.
These kinds of avatar robots aren’t just for sight-seeing. The robotic surrogates are outfitted with advanced, powerful tools. Equipped for life-saving procedures like: evacuation, excavation, surgery, wound care, bomb detection, search + rescue, and heavy lifting.
By stepping into the robotic suit remotely, the avatar can become your super-human extension. For example: rescue robots or under-sea explorer robots could venture into places we can’t actually take our biological bodies. Ray Kurzweil explains that avatar robots can augment our strength, dexterity, senses, critical thinking, decision making, and also our experiences.
The avatar robot can safely enter: burning buildings, battle zones, disaster areas, wild outbacks, and broken-down urban environments harboring dangerous physical obstacles — which could include rubble, flooding, wild-fire, terrain, infectious diseases, or chemical warfare.
Meanwhile, the human controller — who might be a first-responder, medic, technician, teacher, astronaut, archeologist, scientist, care-giver, fire-fighter, explorer, therapist — can maintain a stable distance without getting in trouble. The human can stay completely focused on mission critical tasks at-hand.
Also, more than one person can wear a robotic avatar suit. So more than one expert can operate at that remote location, without having to move crews of personnel. Especially in an emergency: time, distance, and terrain are key.
In my foreword to Avatar Dreams, I tour current, impressive tech prototypes that promise to make a full-function robot avatar a reality — in just a few years. According to futurists who watch automation trends: our civilization will be deeply intertwined with avatars that can extend our reach, enhance our senses, and also let us experiment with expressing our personality in novel ways.
Stepping into an avatar gives you the freedom to be anyone or anything you dream. Avatar Dreams is a colorful collection of fictional stories exploring the future. Have fun on your reading journey!
— Ray Kurzweil
book title: Avatar Dreams
deck: Sci-Fi stories showcasing the coming age of avatars.
anthology editors: Kevin J. Anderson + Mike Resnick
year: 2018
This book is available at fine book-sellers.
Amazon | Barnes + Nobel | Books-a-Million | IndieBound
FOREWORD
by Ray Kurzweil
I am an avatar.
‘I was smitten. I never wanted to leave this world, one more beautiful than I could have imagined. Virtual reality had won me over lock, stock and barrel’ — said a woman who recently had her first full immersion experience in October 2016 in a multi-player virtual reality world called QuiVr.
Her epiphany was short-lived as the virtual hand of another player named ‘BigBro442’ started to rub her virtual chest. ‘Stop!’ she cried. But his assault continued and intensified. She said: ‘My high from earlier plummeted. I went from the god who couldn’t fall off a ledge — to a powerless woman being chased by another avatar.’
Finally, after being chased and harassed around the virtual cliffs and ledges of the QuiVr world — she yanked off her headset. I had several reactions to reading about this incident. First, dismay at the pervasive misogyny and harassment directed at women — which is intensified in the anonymity of many virtual environments and other forms of web communication.
The other reaction is especially relevant to this book. I’ve written that virtual environments are inherently safer than real ones because you can hang-up if the experience is not going to your liking. She did ultimately leave the QuiVr world — but a week later she wrote: ‘It felt real and violating. The virtual chasing and groping happened a full week ago. I’m still thinking about it.’
video | highlights from video game QuiVr
developer: BlueTeak
publisher: Alvios
Putting aside for the moment the important issue of harassment and assault, in both real + virtual spaces, this incident illustrates a key lesson about the increasingly virtual world we’ll be inhabiting — where we easily transfer our consciousness to our avatar.
Like a child playing with a doll, we maintain some level of awareness that the virtual world is slightly more tentative than the real one. But we have little resistance to identifying with our virtual selves. I’ve always felt that the term ‘virtual reality’ is unfortunate, implying a lack of reality.
The telephone was the first virtual reality — we can be in a virtual space with someone far away, as if we’re together. But these are still real interactions. You can’t say about a phone conversation: ‘oh, that argument we had’ or ‘that agreement we made’ or ‘that love I expressed’ — that wasn’t real, it was just virtual reality.
video | what are virtual + augmented realities
publication: ColdFusion
video | welcome to augmented reality city
from: Blippar
We have decades of experience with avatars representing us in virtual environments — and these are becoming immersive with 360 degree, 3D virtual environments. More significant, is we’re now embarking on an era when avatars will also represent us in real reality. That’s the topic of the anthology book Avatar Dreams. It’s a compelling, creative collection of science fiction short stories — compiled by writers Kevin J. Anderson and Mike Resnick.
A major issue concerning avatars in the real world is the phenomenon of the uncanny valley, which is the sense of revulsion that occurs if a replica of a human — whether a computer-generated image or a robot — is very close to life-like, but not quite there. So far, we’ve largely stayed on the safe bank of this valley.
video | what is the uncanny valley
publication: Seeker
In the movies, computer generated characters such as Shrek are obviously not trying to look human. This is beginning to change. In the 2016 Star Wars series film called Rogue One: a Star Wars story —- the fictional character Grand Moff Tarkin (Imperial leader of the Death Star) was computer animated. That was because of the death in 1994 of actor Peter Cushing, who portrayed the character in vintage Star Wars films.
video | highlights of Shrek + friends
studio: DreamWorks Animation
video | character Grand Moff Tarking: real actor vs. animated
studio: LucasFilm
publication: Behind Star Wars
For me, he was in the uncanny valley and looked creepy, but not everyone agreed. Many critics applauded how realistic he appeared. Hence, we’re approaching the safe bank of the uncanny valley when it comes to animations. There will always be controversy as we get close to full realism.
However, when it comes to robotic avatars in the real world, we’re not yet approaching the uncanny valley. I’ve given multiple public talks using a technology called the Beam tele-presence robot, which is a simple human-sized device consisting of a wheeled base holding a display of a person’s face at a normal face height.
video | Beam tele-presence robot
from: Suitable Technologies
As a user, I can roll on stage after I’m introduced and give my talk, and then mingle with the audience after. There are significant limitations: I’m always afraid I’m going to zoom off the stage because I can’t see where my virtual bottom is. When mingling, I can’t shake hands, I can’t give + receive hugs. But I do feel like I’m at the venue, and am able to put these restrictions temporarily out-of-mind.
Over the next 5 to 10 years all of these limitations of robotic avatars will gradually dissolve, just as fully virtual environments have gone from the simple worlds of Atari branded 8-bit games — to today’s compelling 3D virtual environments However, we still need to be wary of the uncanny valley.
I describe one way to leap over the uncanny valley in an issued patent titled “virtual encounters” that helps you to hug and physically interact with a companion in real reality — even if you’re 100s of miles apart.
US Patent + Trade Office
patent: no. 8.600.550 | visit
patent title: virtual encounters
inventor: Ray Kurzweil
If a 3rd person witnesses such an interaction, they’d see each person with a robotic surrogate. However, for the participants, they never actually see the robot they’re with. Instead, they experience their human partner.
To envision this, let’s call the 2 people: John and Jane. John sees out of the eyes of his robotic surrogate with Jane. And similarly, Jane sees out of the eyes of her surrogate with John. They hear out of the ears of their surrogates and feel (using tactile actuators: piezo-electric stimulators on their hands, arms, and other body parts) the physical sensations detected by the physical sensors on the surrogates. The physical movements of the 2 human participants direct the movements of the corresponding robotic surrogate.
So each party feels like they’re with their human partner and does not see or detect the presence of any robots. Given our readiness to transfer our consciousness to avatars that represent us in another environment, both parties feel like they’re truly with their human partner. Once perfected, it would be just like being together. The 2 robotic surrogates are simply a communication channel incorporating all of the senses. This concept can be extended to more than 2 participants.
The scenario described in this patent is one approach to being somewhere else using avatar technology. Another approach is to transfer ourselves to remote robotic substitutes that will appear real to other real people in a real environment. Through accelerating advances in: robotics, sensory biology, communication, and virtual reality technologies — we’ll be able to instantly exist in multiple places at once, and overcome limitations of today’s state of the art.
The latest X Prize, called the Avatar X Prize envisions limitless travel by tele-porting a person’s awareness to a robotic avatar body that will enable people to be in multiple places at once. I worked on this prize with Harry Kloor PhD who led the effort.
The tech to realize this vision are rapidly coming into place. Start with today’s Beam robot and replace each of its components with tech that’s already coming into place. For example, replace its wheeled base with walking legs — a capability that Boston Dynamics and a number of teams have already demonstrated.
IMAGE | Boston Dynamics
Now add robotic arms that you control with your own arms, another already available technology demonstrated. For example, by inventor Dean Kamen’s prototype ‘Luke arm’ — built as a prosthetic for amputees. This tech has already received FDA approval based on its ability to allow users without biological arms to “prepare food, feed oneself, use zippers, and brush and comb their hair.”
IMAGE | Fred Downs using a prototype Luke arm project by DEKA Research + Development
Replacing the avatar’s head with something realistic is the most challenging aspect of the Avatar X Prize. But consider this robotic head created by tele-comm + bio-med pioneer Martine Rothblatt PhD — in collaboration with Hanson Robotics — called Bina 48. The robot is based on Martine’s wife Bina Rothblatt.
The Bina 48 robot is able to respond to questions using its own AI, but it could also be used to project the presence of an actual human.
Hanson Robotics | home ~ channel
tag line: We bring robots to life.
visit | robot gallery
visit | Bina 48
image | above
Bina 48 is a custom character robot made by Hanson Robotics.
In 5 to 10 years, these types of technologies will be perfected and seamlessly integrated into an avatar that will enable us to do virtually all of the things we do now — by traveling to a different location.
They’ll be designed to look + feel human. We’ll be able to prepare and serve a meal, clean-up the table, mingle with guests, hug + kiss a friend, perform rescues, conduct surgeries, play at sports, and musch more — as if we were there.
And as a result of the 50 percent deflation rate inherent in all information tech — this capability will ultimately be inexpensive and ubiquitous.
Consider that your smart-phone is literally a trillion dollars of computation + communication, circa 1965. Yet it costs only a few hundred dollars today — and there are now 2 billion of them in the world.
The stories in this outstanding, imaginative anthology bring these diverse scenarios to life. In author Kevin Anderson’s short story titled ‘the Next Best Thing to Being There’ — a robotic sherpa guides climbers on Mount Rainier. It illustrates an important application of robotic avatar tech: bringing remote expertise to challenging environments.
Francesca — the wife of one of the climbers — is experiencing the climb virtually through the sherpa avatar. She shares the shock of the actual participants when an avalanche suddenly strikes. As the ensuing crisis develops, the avatar takes on a different role: becoming a remote physician attending to the injured climbers, and directed by doctors far away.
We already see doctors performing virtual surgery using avatar technology. For example, a human doctor remotely doing eye surgery by entering a virtual environment in which the patient’s eye becomes as big as a beach ball, thereby enabling the intricate surgical maneuvers required. Surgeries can now be performed by doctors who may be thousands of miles away, allowing medical expertise to be instantly transported to remote areas where medical services are scant.
In author Tina Gower’s story titled ‘the Waiting Room’ — a woman whose physical body has failed her is able to explore the world and seek a relationship with her children by using an avatar. The avatar represents her in a physical reality that she would otherwise not be able to navigate with her physical body.
Not only does the protagonist of the story successfully transfer her consciousness to her avatar, but we (the reader) do so as well. We readily accept her avatar as being the heroine. The story brings-up the issue: what should we do with our physical bodies as we spend ever-more time in the future inhabiting avatars — in both virtual reality + the real world.
This is where we’re headed: a future that integrates real spaces with virtual + augmented realities. And a world where I can effortlessly transfer my consciousness + experiences to an avatar that represents me. This will ultimately be so realistic that I’ll find myself reminding my friends that I am an avatar.
— end of foreword —
IMAGE
webpages
X Prize Foundation | home ~ channel
tag line: A global future-positive movement.
the Avatar X Prize | home ~ featurettes
tag line: Anywhere is possible
visit | science fiction advisory council
visit | AI + data for GOOD
visit | prizes: past + present
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DEKA Research + Development | home ~ channel
tag line: Improving lives using state-of-the-art technology.
HALF LINE
Boston Dynamics | home ~ channel
tag line: Changing your idea of what robots can do.
HALF LINE
United Therapeutics | home
tag line: Enabling inspiration.
profile | Martine Rothblatt PhD, JD
HALF LINE
from: Wikipedia
profile | avatar
profile | tele-robotics
profile | android
profile | humanoid robot
background notes
no. 1 |
about | avatars
Avatars are at the leading edge of robotics and digital innovation. An avatar is either a mechanical robot standing-in for a human, or a digital person living in non-physical places — for example, on the web. In the near future: people will have fulfilling experiences living a lifestyle through a remote surrogate — like their personal digital avatar.
An avatar can change to reflect your new style, new adventures, and new curiosity. The web is already filled with digital worlds inhabited by avatars who experience life’s senses in creative ways. These avatars will grow to develop a full complement of human body senses. Future avatars will be able to transmit touch, sound, sight, taste, smell. Avatars can engage the world: do chores, have relationships, go shopping, find information, and travel to both real and fantasy places. In virtual spaces, people can bring their imagination to life.
no. 2 |
about | the X Prize Foundation
The X Prize Foundation designs + manages public competitions to foster tech development for world benefit. The mission is to create breakthroughs for humanity with challenges that award million dollar prize purses to the winner.
It crafts competitions across fields: for individuals, companies, organizations to innovative ideas and tech to solve the biggest world problems. Their motto is: Let’s move progress forward.
no. 3 |
about | the Avatar X Prize
Bridging distance, time and culture. The $10 million Avatar X Prize — presented by All Nippon Airways — is a 4 year competition to speed the integration of tech into a multi-purpose avatar system. The robotic avatar will seamlessly transport human skills and experience — to the exact location where and when they’re needed.
Designing avatars for impact — avatars can take different forms and be used in a variety of scenarios. For example:
- giving care: avatars can give the sensory experience of your presence + care to anyone instantly, no matter the distance.
- disaster relief: avatars can transport life-saving skills in real time to remote locations too dangerous for people to go.
- multi-purpose utility: experts can use avatars to provide services + rare trade skills for critical maintenance or repairs.
The prize winning solution must enable a person to: see, hear, touch, interact. The winning team will demo a robotic avatar, used by an non-trained operator: to complete a set of simple + complex tasks, in a physical environment at least 100 km away.
no. 4 |
about | the book
The book Avatar Dreams: science fiction visions of avatar technology explores the current + future impact of avatars. The X Prize Foundation crafted the Avatar X Prize to foster the engineering innovation we need to make general purpose avatars an everyday reality. Development of avatar tech — the blend of human awareness with remote robotic or digital bodies — tracks advances in medicine, culture, work, transportation, education, and design. The book is inspired by the Avatar X Prize and the exciting robots the prize will demo.
The potential of avatars is endless — in the book, today’s most insightful science fiction writers illustrate the possibilities in 14 stories.
imagine:
- a group of remote spectators traveling along remotely during a rigorous mountain climbing expedition.
- a severely injured athlete able to play his favorite sport vicariously through a robotic body.
- a comatose woman using an avatar to interact with her family and the outside world.
- a skilled technician using an avatar on a dangerous search + rescue operation.
- medical specialists using avatars to enter infectious disease hot zones that no vulnerable human can.
These 14 short tales by premier science fiction authors explore the future wonders of avatar tech.
— the short stories —
- the Next Best Thing to Being There — by Kevin J. Anderson
- Coach — by Mike Resnick
- the Waiting Room — by Tina Gower
- That Others May Live — by Ken Ikenberry
- the Ghost of the Mountain — by Andrea G. Stewart
- Action Figures — by Martin L. Shoemaker
- Covering the Games — by Ron Collins
- Avatar Syndrome — by Harry Doc Kloor
- the Gathering — by Kay Kenyon
- Delivering the Payload — by Josh Vogt
- Stedman Farrah’s Illustrious Fall — by Marina J. Lostetter
- Old Dogs, New Tricks — by Brad R. Torgersen
- Little and Small — by Todd J. McCaffrey
- In the Heart of the Action — by Jody Lynn Nye
— notes —
km = kilometers
DEKA = Dean Kamen Research + Development
FDA = the Food and Drug Admin. ~ US
US = United States