From Machine Man to Machine Man

By Abderrahmane Kheddar (Montpellier Laboratory of Computer Science, Robotics and Microelectronics).

One way of understanding how we reason and act on our environment is to try and reproduce our abilities. For example, designing a kind of functional copy of ourselves, a cybernetic avatar using robotic technology and digital intelligence to emulate our behaviors and motor and perceptual abilities. Humanoid robots have real potential for many applications; however, they are also a tool for studying fundamental questions linked to the eternal quest for the augmented human being. Their form gives them interesting properties in terms of integration, interaction, empathy and encorporation. Encorporation is a feature that goes beyond robotic telepresence technologies: its mechanisms and actual characterization are far from well understood. Yet this understanding is very important for bionic robotics technologies and wearable robotics in general.