In effect, the reality-naut sees what the robot sees and makes motions as if he or she is there. The applications are enormous, if the technology can be perfected. Construction workers could guide robots working on the 48th floor of the skeleton of a skyscraper, without risking a fall. Explorers could go to the end of the world without worrying about heat, cold or the absence of water. These are the ultimate simulations.
Supercomputers already model everything from wind tunnels to weather flows.
Wearing computers, instead of watching them, changes the game dramatically. The benefits are as obvious as for other means of simulation. Such computer suits may cost a quarter-million dollars. But how much cheaper it is to send a robot into space as a proxy body and keep the human body on the ground. Really replicating live environments on helmet screens and perfecting the feedback between robot and human hands will take several years.