[The Medium post below by Idoru co-founder Mica Le John describes the company’s goals in providing users the ability to create extremely realistic digital avatars of themselves. Without using the term self presence, he notes that “When you can connect with your avatar, hold your digital-you in your hand, you can experience and even feel through it.” A November 2022 article from Dazed that follows the post provides more details, and follow the link to Idoru.world for more information. Israel21c also has a related story about YOOM’s volumetric capture process for creating realistic avatars. –Matthew] Idoru is Inclusivity By Mica…

[This story from Purdue University explains how computer scientist Aniket Bera and others are working to help a variety of robots “better incorporate and understand human behavior and emotion.” While the focus is on the robots’ abilities, the changes lead to increased medium-as-social-actor presence, improved human-machine communication, and important positive – even life-saving – outcomes. See the original story for a second image.  –Matthew] [Image: For Aniket Bera, an expert in emotional computing, smart devices need to be heart-smart, not just head-smart. With applications that include virtual therapy, autonomous vehicles and rescue bots like this robot dog, his lab works…

[A New Jersey startup company called Mobeus has a telepresence product called Airglass, described this way In a November 2022 Business Wire press release: “Airglass converts the desktop into a transparent, glass-like layer, creating the futuristic experience of seeing beyond the display screen. … [It] combines interactive air, i.e., a virtual, see-through touch screen, and immersive glass, i.e., an overlay of an invisible digital layer atop the display, to deliver an enhanced meeting experience.” The author of the Digital Trends story below tried it out and provides a first-person report. See the original version of the story for four more…

[A combination of technologies including those that enhance spatial and social presence are combined in a new system for remote psychological therapy, as reported in this story from the University of Kansas. –Matthew] [Image: The Earth mother avatar is shown in the forest setting of the EEG-enabled Virtual Therapy System. Credit: Chris Tacca] KU Team Develops Virtual Reality Therapy System That Aids Clients, Therapists With Real-Time Brain Data Contact: Mike Krings February 6, 2023 LAWRENCE — Clients seeking therapy need to feel comfortable in an environment that is conducive to examining mental health and with a counselor they can trust.…

[This press release from Ohio State University describes a training program that uses virtual reality and presence to simulate the experience of first responders in a variety of disaster situations. See the original version for a 1:31 minute video and a link to more multi-media materials. The project’s web page provides more details and includes a 5:00 minute video. NBC4 in Columbus, Ohio has a 2:34 minute news report. And for even more information see a July 2021 Ohio State interview about the project. –Matthew] [Image: Paramedic Joshua Cooper participates in virtual reality mass casualty training at Delaware County EMS.…

[At a launch event for the Charlotta Bass Journalism and Justice Lab at the University of Southern California on February 8, 2023 the Lab’s founding director Professor Allissa Richardson, unveiled the Lab’s first virtual human, Lora King. Professor Richardson’s Facebook post after the event (which includes nine more images) is below and provides some of the details about the project and a link to a website where you can “talk” to Lora King. For more information, see coverage from USC’s Daily Trojan, USC News, and the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. –Matthew] Today, Lora King and I debuted…

[This short story from rAVe [PUBS] based on a press release from Coventry University is an update on the innovative, international Immersive Telepresence in Theatre project. See the original story for a second image and visit the project’s website, and in particular its About page, for much more information. –Matthew] Coventry University’s Telepresence in Theatre with Virtual Performers is Heading to USA By Maggie McIntyre January 30, 2023 UK-based Coventry University’s Immersive Telepresence in Theatre project is crossing the pond for a special performance in Miami. Through the use of video conferencing software, the project enables actors and performing arts…

[In this story from Interesting Engineering a group of researchers provide a fascinating and accessible explanation of how they’re exploring technologies that would allow people to “use their bodies normally” to control additional limbs. They say it’s early days for this research in “third level human augmentation,” but to the extent that the control over these limbs becomes intuitive, i.e., with the user failing to fully acknowledge the role of the technology in the experience, the research suggests the possibility of a powerful form of presence. See the original version of the story for three more images and links to…

[The conversational artificial intelligence of OpenAI’s ChatGPT is said to be accelerating the timeline for developing the ability for people to create a virtual representation of themself that can interact with family, friends and descendants after they die. The second-to-last paragraph in this report from Motherboard also points out other uses of the integration of AI and VR worlds. See the original story for a second image. –Matthew] [Image: Somnium Space’s Artur Sychov talks to an AI-powered virtual robot that is powered in part by ChatGPT] Founder: You’ll Soon Be Able to Talk to Your Dead Mom In the Metaverse…

[Researchers in The University of Chicago’s Department of Computer Science conducted an interesting study with implications for the design of our electronic devices and the medium-as-social-actor presence experiences they evoke. This UChicago CS News story describes the project and includes two different pictures and a 3:26 minute video (also available on YouTube). –Matthew] UChicago CS Researchers Create Living Smartwatch to Explore Human-Device Relations December 12, 2022 In a paper for UIST 2022, PhD student Jasmine Lu and Assistant Professor of Computer Science Pedro Lopes built a smartwatch that runs on slime mold and requires feeding to function. Devices such as…

[An innovation from MIT holds promise to enhance presence experiences with a variety of media, especially those like virtual and augmented reality that depend on small, close-range displays. The details are in this report from MIT News. –Matthew] [Image: Credit: Illustration by Younghee Lee] Engineers invent vertical, full-color microscopic LEDs Stacking light-emitting diodes instead of placing them side by side could enable fully immersive virtual reality displays and higher-resolution digital screens. By Jennifer Chu, MIT News Office February 1, 2023 Take apart your laptop screen, and at its heart you’ll find a plate patterned with pixels of red, green, and…

[This story from The Guardian describes a new application of presence-evoking deepfake technologies that may provide entertainment but also raises ethical issues; see the original version of the story for three different images and a short video teaser. For a related development, see the We Got This Covered story “‘Family Guy’ imagined by AI as a live-action ’80s sitcom is giving off strong uncanny valley vibes.” –Matthew] [Image: Source: ITVX on Twitter; follow the link for another video teaser] Behind the scenes of TV’s first deep fake comedy: ‘None of it is illegal. Everything is silly’ Is that Harry Kane…