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Blake, Wm. Jerusalem The Emanation of The Giant Albion, object 6. 1832.

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A new humanoid robot can relay touch sensations to a person wearing a VR headset and haptic feedback gloves hundreds of miles away, allowing people to “attend” events without traveling.

The bot, iCub 3, weighs 115 pounds and stands 50 inches tall. It features 54 points of articulation, cameras for eyes, and an internet-connected computer as its “brain.” The sensors covering its body send data to the robot’s “brain” and are then replicated on a suit and VR headset worn by a remote human operator.

Miraculously, when the person reacts to what they see and feel, the suit’s sensors pick up the movements and the robot matches them. The tech marvel demonstrated its capabilities at the Venice Biennale, where it wandered through an exhibition while its operator stood 180 miles away.

Engineer Stefano Dafarra remarked, “The key is to translate every signal and bit of numeric data that can be sent through the network,” adding that he hopes people will use the iCub 3 to attend events remotely. Right now, the system is just a prototype, but its applications could range from entertainment to healthcare to disaster response.