UNIST (President Yong-Hoon Lee) will compete for the title of the strongest in the world stage of 'Avatar Robot', where the robot follows the movements of the user wearing a control device.

Team UNIST, led by Professor Jun-Beom Bae of the Department of Mechanical Engineering at UNIST (President Yong-Hoon Lee), announced on the 21st that it was included in the list of finalists for the 'ANA Avatar XPRIZE'.

The XPRIZE Foundation in the United States has announced the final 15 teams that have advanced to the finals of its Avatar Robotics Technology Competition.

In Korea, only two teams, UNIST and Seoul National University, advanced to the finals.

The finals will be held in the fall of 2022.

The total prize money for the tournament is 10 million dollars (approximately 12 billion won), and the winning team will receive 5 million dollars. All finalists will receive an interim prize of approximately 150 million won.

Professor Bae Jun-beom said, “We have been improving the performance of the avatar robot through research for about three years since the beginning of the competition, and I am happy that our achievements have been recognized by advancing to the finals.” He added, “Since our entire team has done its best, I expect that we will be able to achieve good results in the remaining finals.”

The ANA Avatar XPRIZE is a robotics competition that began in 2018. Its goal is to develop remote-controlled avatar robots capable of performing tasks in hazardous environments like space and disaster zones. Robots compete to demonstrate their ability to perform complex and sophisticated tasks through interaction with human participants.

The competition is sponsored by Japanese airline ANA (All Nippon Airways) and organized by the XPRIZE Foundation, which is well known for its competitions such as Elon Musk's carbon removal competition ($100M XPRIZE Carbon Removal funded by the Musk Foundation).

ANA hopes to develop technology that will provide seamless two-way feedback, allowing bedridden patients to experience international travel through robot avatars.

Of the numerous initial applicants, 99 were selected for judging, and only 37 teams from 15 countries advanced to the semifinals, which took place in Miami, USA, last September.

The semifinals consisted of three scenarios: the robot and the user were placed on different floors, and each had to control the robot to complete complex tasks, such as solving small puzzles and toasting their opponent. As it should be easy for anyone to use, a random panel of judges was assigned to operate the robot on the day of the trial.

Professor Bae said, “I think the control interface that conveys various senses so that the user feels like a robot at a distance received good scores,” and added, “I will do my best during the remaining period until the competition so that I can achieve good results in the finals.”