Paracosma is pleased to announce that the ANA Avatar XPRIZE Judging Panel has selected Paracosma as a Qualified Team.
This marks a significant achievement for Paracosma’s Team and the ANA Avatar XPRIZE competition. For this first judging phase of the competition, the teams that completed a Qualifying Submission by October 31, 2019, were assessed by the ANA Avatar XPRIZE’s esteemed judging panel and narrowed down to the 77 qualifying teams announced January 8, 2020.
“We are honored to be part of the select group of high-quality teams that remain in the ANA Avatar XPRIZE competition,” said Ken Ehrhart, Founder & CEO of Paracosma Inc. “This selection validates our vision and qualifications to compete head-to-head with some of the leading robotics and communications experts in the world.”
The ANA Avatar XPRIZE competition requires teams to develop solutions that enable fully immersive telepresence that will allow a minimally trained user to control a remote robotic avatar as if they were physically present in the remote location.
- The winning team will integrate multiple emerging technologies to develop a physical, non-autonomous robotic Avatar System with which an operator can see, hear, and interact within a remote environment in a manner that feels as if they are truly there.
- Technologies could include robotics, artificial intelligence, advanced sensors, brain-machine interface, machine learning, virtual and augmented reality.
- Avatars can be used across a range of possible real-world scenarios including:
– Providing Care: Avatars could give the experience of your presence and care to anyone instantly, regardless of distance.
– Disaster Relief: Avatars could transport critical life-saving skills in real-time to remote, disaster-struck areas where it is too dangerous for humans to go.
– Multi-Purpose Utility: Experts can utilize avatars to provide unique services or rare trade skills for critical maintenance or repairs.
“The objectives of the competition uniquely combine VR and AR capabilities with telecommunications and robotics to reinvent the way humans can use technology to communicate and interact over distances as if those distances disappear,” says Ken Ehrhart, Paracosma Founder & CEO. “The winning solutions will become core to a future interconnected world where we can see, feel and touch others in the most intimate and personal ways regardless of distance.”
The ANA Avatar XPRIZE competition now moves on to the next level in which the Qualified Teams will compete to become one of up to 75 Semifinalist Teams. Those Semifinalist Teams will then compete to become one of up to 20 Finalist Teams. Those Finalist Teams will share in $2 million of prize money and then compete for another $8 million in prizes for the winning Teams, including $5 million for the First Place team, $2 million for the Second Place team and $1 million for the Third Place team.
The Paracosma Team in the ANA Avatar XPRIZE competition includes team members and advisors to Paracosma Inc from around the world. Paracosma, a leading Augmented and Virtual Reality Service Provider, has headquarters in San Francisco, US, technology and sales offices in Tokyo, Japan and its main development center in Kathmandu, Nepal.
About ANA Avatar XPRIZE
Our ability to physically experience another geographic location, or to provide on-the- ground assistance where needed, is limited by cost and time. It’s time for a disruption. The ANA Avatar XPRIZE can enable creation of an audacious alternative that could bypass these limitations, allowing us to more rapidly and efficiently distribute skills and hands-on expertise to distant geographic locations where they are needed, transcending the barriers of distance and time. For more information visit http://avatar.xprize.org
About Paracosma
Paracosma Inc is an Augmented and Virtual Reality (AR/VR) design, consulting and systems integration company that provides solutions and skills to both small and large customers. Paracosma services include 3D content creation, application development, and project implementation across a broad range of AR & VR platforms. Additionally, Paracosma creates its own content in the gaming, entertainment, tourism, enterprise and education/training spaces. Paracosma also has proprietary technology for producing, viewing, managing and distributing 360-degree photo and video content. For more information visit http://www.paracosma.com
