This is the mixed reality application of the month and is probably the Peak Japan moment of the year: A giant construction robot.. controlled through an XR headset. According to this Japanese news site (and Google's so-so translation), it is very much in production:
[Railway company] JR West announced on the 15th that it is developing a multifunctional railway heavy equipment that combines a humanoid heavy equipment robot and a railway construction vehicle in collaboration with the human-machine integrated and Nippon Signal. The company aims to improve productivity and safety by developing highly versatile heavy railway equipment that can be used for various equipment installed in high places and mechanizing work that previously required human intervention.
According to VR expert Adeon (who tipped me on this ), the HMD we see pictured here is an HP Reverb G2. ("Very good headset, better than Index.") New World Notes' Japanese translator Sanny found this video of the robot in action, watch below:
Glorious robot action starts at around 4:05 in. I'm reaching out to project lead Dr. Kanaoka for more details, especially around the XR control. And whether, of course, this robot might one day be controlled from a metaverse platform.
Speaking of which, be sure to read about this project to connect a VRChat avatar to a giant robot by another Japanese inventor. (Video above.)
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