Watch this humanoid robot being controlled via Apple Vision Pro

Researchers were able to use an Apple Vision Pro headset to control a humanoid robot and make it carry out numerous tasks. 

As we march ever closer to the sort of world we once only saw in science-fiction movies – new technology allows scientists to teleoperate a robot using a VR headset. 

China’s Unitree Robotics created the teleoperated bot which works with an Apple Vision Pro headset. 

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The humanoid robot copies whatever the human does

Unitree is already making waves in the world of robotics, having recently revealed its ultra-flexible G1 that has ‘unlimited movement ability’ and 360-degree joints’, while the H1 previously set a world speed record. 

In a recent clip shared to YouTube, a man can be seen wearing the Apple Vision Pro headset with a Unitree H1 bot sat beside him.

Whatever actions the man makes, such as waving his hands or pretending to pick up and place an item in the box, the robot copies, in almost identical timing. Looks pretty wild, right? 

This isn’t the first time humanoid robotics and teleoperation has been trialed. Experts from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of California, San Diego, have worked on a system called Open-Television, which works almost exactly like you see in the clip. 

The open-source system ‘lets you immersively operate a robot even if you are 3000 miles away’ and can be used to improve robot ‘learning’ by teaching it how to perform certain tasks. 

Experts are excited about its potential uses

A study shared by the team behind Open-Television, explains that the software system allows a person to ‘actively perceive the robot’s surroundings in a stereoscopic manner’.

Alongside seeing what the robot ‘sees’, the system is able to mirror the person’s arm and hand movements onto the robot, which creates an ‘immersive experience as if the operator’s mind is transmitted to a robot embodiment’. 

Although the technology is still in the early stages of development, experts are excited about its future use and predict that it could offer ‘plentiful enterprise opportunities’.

“Developing humanoid robots is a complex undertaking and requires huge processing power and advanced AI models,” Paolo Pescatore, a tech analyst at PP Foresight, told the Sun

“By collaborating with key players, all is achievable.”

Watch this space, guys.