The „Fusion“ system creates communication through physical information by a wearable robot system, allowing operator and wearer a function to share space from nearly the same viewpoint. The configuration of the system is divided into the operator side and the wearer side. The operator side wears a ready-made head mount display (HMD) to access the wearer’s system. The backpack worn by the wearer has a 3 degrees of freedom robot head and a 6 degrees of freedom humanoid robot arm. The robot hand at the tip of the arm can be removed and replaced by other attachments. Because the backpack is battery-operated, it can be carried and used outdoors. In this system, one can communicate in three ways: directed, enforced, or induced through the body. If directed, two persons can collaborate using a robot hand. In the enforced version, the position and attitude of the wearer’s hand is moved by replacing the attachment with a wrist band. In the induced version, walking can be induced in the direction aimed by pulling the wearer with the robot arm.
JST news release, August 9, 2018