The Italian Institute of Technology of Genoa was the only Italian institution to participate in the global robotic avatar challenge Ana Avatar X- Prize, held Nov. 4-5 in Long Beach, California. At the Convention Center 17 teams, from 10 countries around the world and selected out of 99 teams, competed for a cash prize pool of $8 million, provided by ANA (All Nippon Airways).

The teams from Italy, which showed up with two robots, AlterEgo and iCub3, faced other teams from the US, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, Singapore, and the rest of Europe (Germany, France, and Holland). The competition among teleoperated robots required them to perform daily life tasks communicated by the organizers to the finalist teams only a few days before.