The ‘avatars’ being built by Dr Douwe Dresscher, Dr Felix Schwenninger and Dr Gwenn Englebienne are a bit like the blue humanoids in the film of the same name. “Like these fictional characters, we are working on a similar control system that will let the operator feel like he or she has taken the place of the robot,” says Dresscher.

Robots are already being developed for home care in Norway, but they are not yet as personal as they could be. In this sparsely populated country, the avatars could help to bridge the enormous distances by letting carers see and interact with their patients through the robots. The avatars can also be used for hazardous work such as loading and unloading oil tankers in the Port of Rotterdam. “Hazardous substances must be handled by operators with the right expertise. Using an avatar, you can get the necessary skills to the oil tanker without having to endanger people,” said Dresscher.