Semifinalist Teams Selected in $10M ANA Avatar XPRIZE Competition
XPRIZE, the world’s leader in designing and operating incentive competitions to solve humanity’s grand challenges, announced today that 38 teams from 16 countries are advancing to the semifinals round of the $10M ANA Avatar XPRIZE competition.
Sponsored by All Nippon Airways (ANA), Japan’s largest airline, the Avatar XPRIZE is a four-year global competition focused on the development of an avatar system that will deploy a human’s senses, actions, and presence to a remote location in real time, leading to a more connected world. These avatars must demonstrate the ability to execute tasks across a variety of real-world scenarios and convey a sense of presence for both the operator and the recipient in those interactions. In the future, avatars could help provide critical care and deploy immediate responses in emergency situations, or offer opportunities for exploration and new ways of collaboration, stretching the boundaries of what is possible and maximizing the impact of skill and knowledge sharing.
“We are rapidly approaching an era where it will be possible for a doctor in New York to export their skillset virtually to respond to a natural disaster across the globe,” said Anousheh Ansari, CEO of XPRIZE. “The task at hand for these incredible semifinalist teams competing in the ANA Avatar XPRIZE is to break through physical limitations and expand the capacity of humankind itself through transformative robotic avatar technology.”
In February 2021, qualified teams completed their semifinalist selection submissions—the second round of technical submissions for evaluation by the judging panel. Each team submitted a comprehensive write-up detailing their avatar system's capabilities and their development plans, accompanied by a demonstration video showcasing their technology in action. The judges extensively reviewed the submissions and selected 38 semifinalists to advance out of the field of 77 qualified teams.
The ANA Avatar XPRIZE semifinalist teams are:
- 1to1Robotics, Hackensack, New Jersey, United States
- Aham, Bangalore, India
- Augnition, Helsinki, Finland
- AvaDynamics, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States
- Avatar Quest, San Jose, California, United States
- AVATRINA, Urbana, Illinois, United States
- BellContinuous, Arlington, Texas, United States
- Cyberselves, Sheffield, United Kingdom
- Dragon Tree Labs, Moscow, Russia
- ENZO AVATAR, Bucaramanga, Colombia
- Forged Droids, Tempe, Arizona, United States
- GITAI, Tokyo, Japan
- H2L, Tokyo, Japan
- Human Fusions, Cleveland, Ohio, United States
- i-Botics, Utrecht, Netherlands
- iCub, Genoa, Italy
- Inbiodroid, Irapuato, Mexico
- Janus, Tsukuba, Japan
- Junnichi Suko, Tokyo, Japan
- Kimaera Dynamics, Toronto, Canada
- Last Mile – small world project 2, Osaka, Japan
- Limitless, Lugano, Switzerland
- NimbRo, Bonn, Germany
- Pollen Robotics, Bordeaux, France
- proRobot, Vysoké Mýto, Czech Republic
- Rezilient, St. Louis, Missouri, United States
- Robot Guru (HoloSuit), Mysuru, India
- Robotics Services LLC, Providence, Rhode Island, United States
- Roboy, Munich, Germany
- Sant'Anna, Pisa, Italy
- SYNAPSE, Tokyo, Japan
- Team Northeastern, Boston, Massachusetts, United States
- Team SNU, Ulsan, South Korea
- Team UNIST, Seoul, South Korea
- Telexistence, Tokyo, Japan
- Touchlab, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
- Virtual Sapiens, Chennai, India
- X-Presence, Kobe, Japan
Additional details about all competing teams can be found here.
“The breakthroughs that will develop out of the ANA Avatar XPRIZE have the potential to entirely reimagine the human experience,” said David Locke, Executive Prize Director of ANA Avatar XPRIZE. "We’re thrilled to announce the semifinalist teams and are excited to put their technologies to the test, and experience their ability to transport our sense of presence, during semifinals testing this fall.”
"Now that the semifinalist teams have been chosen, we are one very important step closer to realizing our dream of revolutionizing human connection," said Mitsuo Tomita, Senior Vice President of Marketing at All Nippon Airways. "As a company whose mission it is to connect people, we are beyond excited to see the technology that will be developed by these 38 teams. We are eager to see the innovative ways in which the teams will light up our imaginations with visions of a future in which travel and human connection are limitless."
After the completion of semifinals testing in Fall 2021, up to 20 teams will equally split a Semifinals prize purse of $2M and move on to finals testing in Summer 2022. There, they will compete to win a share of the $8M finals prize purse.
The grand prize will be awarded in June 2022 after finals testing, which will include performance tests based on specific tasks that showcase the application of avatar technologies across several use case scenarios. The winning team will integrate multiple emerging technologies to develop a physical, nonautonomous 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.
The ANA Avatar Advisory Board has been integral in the competition since its launch in January 2019. The group consists of esteemed robotics experts, haptics inventors, psychology professors, top entertainment researchers, virtual world creators, computer vision dynamos and more. The full list of experts can be found below with additional information and bios available here.
For more information on the ANA Avatar XPRIZE, the semifinalist teams, and ANA, please visit avatar.xprize.org.
About XPRIZE
XPRIZE, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, is the global leader in designing and implementing innovative competition models to solve the world’s grandest challenges. Active competitions include the $100 Million XPRIZE Carbon Removal with Elon Musk, $20 Million NRG COSIA Carbon XPRIZE, $15 Million XPRIZE Feed the Next Billion, $10 Million XPRIZE Rainforest, $10 Million ANA Avatar XPRIZE, $5 Million IBM Watson AI XPRIZE, $5 Million XPRIZE Rapid Reskilling and $1M Digital Learning Challenge. For more information, visit xprize.org.
ABOUT ANA
Founded more than 60 years ago in 1952 with just two helicopters, All Nippon Airways (ANA), has become the largest airline in Japan, serving 46 international destinations and 50 domestic destinations.
ANA HOLDINGS Inc. (ANAHD) was established in 2013 as the largest airline group holding company in Japan comprised of 78 companies including ANA and Peach Aviation Limited, the leading LCC in Japan. The 78 companies organized under the ANAHD umbrella operate in a diverse range of markets, including air transportation, travel services and trade, and retail embody ANAHD’s shared values of exceptional service, responsible corporate citizenship and investment in the communities where they operate.
ANA is a launch customer and the biggest operator of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, making ANAHD the biggest Dreamliner owner in the world. A member of Star Alliance since 1999, ANA has Joint Venture agreements with United Airlines, Lufthansa Airlines, Swiss International Airlines, Austrian Airlines and Brussels Airlines– giving it a truly global presence.
Supplementing its operations in commercial aviation, ANAHD has led the development of the innovative haptic robotics program, through its avatarin Inc. company, and its involvement in space with its partnership with JAXA, and other space related companies such as Astroscale and PD Aerospace.
The airline’s legacy of superior service has helped it earn SKYTRAX’s respected 5-Star rating every year since 2013, making ANA the only Japanese airline to win this prestigious designation and for eight consecutive years. ANA also has been recognized by Air Transport World as “Airline of the Year” three times (2007, 2013 and 2018); it is one of a select few airlines to win this prestigious award multiple times.
For more information, please refer to the following link:
https://www.ana.co.jp/group/en/
To view this piece of content from cts.businesswire.com, please give your consent at the top of this page.
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210405005239/en/
Contact information
Caden Kinard, XPRIZE
caden.kinard@xprize.org
About Business Wire
For more than 50 years, Business Wire has been the global leader in press release distribution and regulatory disclosure.
Subscribe to releases from Business Wire
Subscribe to all the latest releases from Business Wire by registering your e-mail address below. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Latest releases from Business Wire
Access Advance Welcomes Global Technology Leaders as Licensees and Licensors to New Video Distribution Patent Pool2.7.2025 03:00:00 EEST | Press release
Access Advance LLC ("Advance") today announced the inaugural roster of licensees and licensors for its Video Distribution Patent ("VDP") Pool, marking a significant milestone in the program's rapid market adoption since its January announcement. The participation of major global companies heavily involved in video codec technology demonstrates strong industry support for the comprehensive licensing solution covering HEVC, VVC, VP9, and AV1 codecs. The VDP Pool has successfully attracted a group of licensees/licensors including ByteDance, Kuaishou, NTT Docomo, and Tencent. This represents the beginning of what Access Advance expects to be widespread adoption among content streaming providers seeking simplified codec licensing. The licensees’ participation provides immediate access to the wide-ranging patent portfolio while benefiting from the fixed tiered pricing structure designed to scale with business size. "We're pleased to welcome ByteDance, Kuaishou, NTT Docomo and Tencent as our
Intralot S.A. to Acquire Bally’s International Interactive Business in a Transaction that Creates a Global Gaming Technology and Services Company in Lottery and Digital Online Gaming Markets1.7.2025 22:10:00 EEST | Press release
Intralot S.A. (ATSE: INLOT) (“Intralot”) and Bally’s Corporation (NYSE: BALY) (“Bally’s”) today announced that their respective Boards of Directors approved their entry into a definitive transaction agreement (“Transaction Agreement”) pursuant to which Intralot will acquire Bally’s International Interactive business (the “International Interactive Business”) in a cash-and-shares transaction that values the International Interactive Business at an enterprise value of €2.7 billion (the “Transaction”). The consideration for the acquisition of the International Interactive Business will comprise a combination of cash paid by Intralot and newly issued shares delivered by Intralot to Bally’s, as more specifically detailed below. As part of the Transaction, Intralot expects to refinance part of its existing debt facilities and Bally’s also expects to repay secured debt from the cash proceeds. The Transaction consideration to Bally’s, after assumptions of certain liabilities by the involved pa
Valeo Foods Group Acquires Melegatti Cakes Expanding the Italian Bakery Portfolio1.7.2025 19:21:00 EEST | Press release
Valeo Foods Group, one of Europe’s leading producers of quality sweets, treats and snacks, has successfully acquired the assets of an Italian panettone, pandoro and croissant producer, Melegatti 1894 S.p.A.This acquisition is another step forward in Valeo Foods Groups’ strategy to expand its baked sweet treats portfolio, and reinforces Valeo’s commitment to bringing authentic Italian confections and established regional brands to a wider international audience. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250702677156/en/ Melegatti Founded in 1894 in Verona, Melegatti has a strong reputation for artisanal cakes - particularly pandoro, panettone and filled croissants - traditional recipes, and a rich Italian heritage, Melegatti has a proud legacy founded on family values, craftsmanship, and a passion for quality. “We are excited to welcome Melegatti into the Valeo Foods Group,” said Ronald Kers, Group CEO. “This acquisition
PUMA and Borussia Dortmund Extend Partnership1.7.2025 19:18:00 EEST | Press release
Sports company PUMA has extended its long-standing partnership with Borussia Dortmund, and will continue to create products that cater to BVB’s many passionate fans around the world and match the club’s dynamic, fast paced style of football. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250701775493/en/ Sports company PUMA has extended its long-standing partnership with Borussia Dortmund, and will continue to create products that cater to BVB’s many passionate fans around the world and match the club’s dynamic, fast paced style of football. Since the start of their partnership in the 2012/13 season, BVB has celebrated many successes, such as reaching the finals of the 2012/13 and 2023/24 UEFA Champions League and winning the 2016/17 and 2020/21 German DFB Cup. The club is currently participating in the FIFA Club World Cup, where it has already reached the round of 16. BVB continues to set the standard in European football w
Gogo Galileo HDX Coming to Cessna Citation Jet Models1.7.2025 18:00:00 EEST | Press release
Textron Aviation Inc., a Textron Inc. (NYSE: TXT) company, today announced Gogo Galileo HDX will be available for aftermarket installation on Cessna Citation jets after Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Supplemental Type Certification (STC) expected in late 2025. The global Low Earth Orbit (LEO) solution allows customers to enjoy one of the best possible in-flight connectivity and aviation experiences, no matter where their journey takes them. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250701750049/en/ Textron Aviation Inc., a Textron Inc. (NYSE: TXT) company, today announced Gogo Galileo HDX will be available for aftermarket installation on Cessna Citation jets after Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Supplemental Type Certification (STC) expected in late 2025. (Photo: Textron Aviation) By offering Gogo Galileo HDX as an aftermarket upgrade, the Textron Aviation support team is ensuring customers benefit from a g
In our pressroom you can read all our latest releases, find our press contacts, images, documents and other relevant information about us.
Visit our pressroom