Real-world avatars?

Intersting story in the Guardian last week.

It talks to the creator of a robot that is designed to be a perfect body double for its creator. The theory is that if the robot looks lifelike, people will react to it naturally. When the creator has full control over movement and speech, he or she can effectively be in two places at once. With sensors increasing in sophisticaton, they can even have the full sensory experience of being elsewhere.

What if, rather than the robot being a perfect reproduction of the user, it was a representation of who they wanted to be; A real physical-world avatar. It's kind of the ultimate plastic surgery. Your old, boring, physical body stays home wired up. You, with all senses firing, are out into the world in your new body. Of the sex, appearance and dress of your choosing. You could even have different bodies for different days, or occasions....or partners.

Maybe, in fifty years or so, this will be so sophisticated and commonplace that we really won't think of it as any different to slipping on a new pair of jeans. Or, a bit more permanently, changing your name?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,2065580,00.html