Inflatable Humanoid Cybernetic Avatar for Physical Human-Robot Interaction.

In a digital twin, a humanoid robot can be the coun-terpart of a simulated agent in the real world. In addi-tion, a human, virtual avatar, and avatar robot might constitute digital triplets. We propose an inflatable cy-bernetic avatar (CA) with a humanoid upper body us-ing an inflatable structure that can represent gestures. This inflatable CA is much lighter, safer, and cheaper than conventional humanoid robots and can be folded when deflated. These properties are ideal for physical human-robot interaction (pHRI) and allow real-time collection of human behavior through interaction. In the experiment, basic movements such as nodding and raising arms were measured using motion capture sys-tems. This paper demonstrates the proposed inflatable CA in a hybrid event. We also conducted an exper-iment to measure the touch interactions using tactile sensors attached to the fabric of the inflatable part. A psychologically secure inflatable humanoid CA is a promising platform for physical interaction experi-ments.