Sony Japan unveiled Mocopi on Tuesday, a set of wearable motion-tracking sensors that captures user movements that are mirrored by virtual avatars on the metaverse or virtual and augmented reality platforms.

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Fast facts

  • Mocopi has six bands that a user can wear on their ankles, wrists, head and hip.
  • It is expected to come with its own smartphone application and a software development kit.
  • “Mocopi creates highly accurate motion measurement with a small number of sensors, freeing VTubers and creators involved in movie and animation production from time and place constraints,” Sony wrote in its press release.
  • VTubers, which is short for virtual YouTube streamers, are internet streamers that gained prominence in Japan for providing online entertainment using virtual avatars.
  • “Virtual idols” such as Vocaloid have been highly popular since the mid-2000s, influencing modern-day Vtubers like Gawr Gura, who has 4.2 million subscribers on YouTube.
  • Mocopi will hit the Japanese market in late January 2023 for 49,500 Japanese yen (US$357).

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