Avatar in Real Life? This Capsule Device Gives You Full-Body Control of a Robot.

It looks like a cross between a spaceship pod and a massage chair, but it’s not just for lounging. This capsule lets you control a robot with your own body.

Japanese tech company H2L just unveiled a high-tech capsule interface that allows users to remotely operate a robotic avatar using subtle muscle movements. It’s a little bit sci-fi, a little bit gamer cave, and very much a glimpse at the future of remote labor.

The Capsule Interface picks up on tiny shifts in your body—like the way your calf tenses or your wrist moves—and translates them into commands for a humanoid robot. Walk, push, lift, pull. All you have to do is twitch the right way. According to H2L, it creates a full-body “synchronization” between person and machine, like your consciousness just beamed into another location.

High-Tech Capsule Lets Anyone Control a Robot From Anywhere

The system uses muscle displacement sensors, a built-in display, and speakers to create a closed-loop feedback experience. What you do inside the capsule directly moves the robot—and soon, you might be able to feel what the robot feels, too. H2L says they’re working on proprioceptive feedback, which would let users experience tactile sensations like pressure and resistance in real time.

That means if your robot hand picks up something heavy, your real arm might actually feel the weight. It’s weirdly intimate, and a long way from traditional VR. You’re not just watching through a screen or using a joystick; you’re inside the body of the machine.

H2L hasn’t said exactly when the capsule will go to market, but when it does, the price tag will be steep: around 30 million yen, or roughly $208,000. For now, that puts it squarely in the realm of researchers, early adopters, and tech investors with a soft spot for Surrogates-style immersion.

Still, it’s not hard to imagine where this is going. Robotic caregivers operated from across the country. Maintenance workers fixing infrastructure without setting foot on-site. Or just someone folding laundry from bed, because walking to the other room feels like a lot right now.

This isn’t just a robot you control. It’s a robot you become. And while the tech might feel far-off and pricey today, that’s exactly how smartphones started, too.