Redundant robots have the potential to perform internal joints motion without modifying the pose of the end-effector by exploiting the null-space of the Jacobian matrix. Capitalizing on that feature, we developed a control technique for minimizing the robot visual appearance when observed from an eye-to-hand camera. Such algorithm is instrumental in contexts where quickly adjusting the perspective to see objects obstructed by the robot is impractical (e.g., teleoperation in narrow environment). Diminished reality techniques are frequently employed in these cases to mitigate the robot intrusion into the environment, although these techniques may sometimes compromise the perceived realism. The experimental evaluation confirmed the effectiveness of our control algorithm, demonstrating an average reduction of 4.67% of the area covered by the robot within the frame when compared to the case without the optimization action.

Metaverse is an immersive shared space that remote users can access through virtual and augmented reality interfaces, enabling their avatars to interact with each other and the surrounding. Although digital objects can be manipulated, physical objects cannot be touched, grasped, or moved within the metaverse due to the lack of a suitable interface. This work proposes a solution to overcome this limitation by introducing the concept of a Physical Metaverse enabled by a new interface named “Avatarm”. The Avatarm consists in an avatar enhanced with a robotic arm that performs physical manipulation tasks while remaining entirely hidden in the metaverse. The users have the illusion that the avatar is directly manipulating objects without the mediation by a robot. The Avatarm is the first step towards a new metaverse, the “Physical Metaverse,” where users can physically interact each other and with the environment.