Avatar Robot Cafe DAWN ver.β, telepresence robots will create a society where everyone can participate in social relationships.
Telepresence robots are not just tools for unmanned and efficient use.
The global coronavirus epidemic and advances in technology have led to the spread of non-contact customer service around the world.
Although covid-19 has forced many people to experience a life of limited human contact, even before covid-19, there were people who had difficulty going out due to physical and mental disabilities.
They had few opportunities to participate in society, to be employed and earn an income, or to have human interaction with their peers and customers in the workplace.
The role of technology is not only to create efficient non-contact ways of communication, but also to create new opportunities where communication opportunities were not previously available.
The Oly laboratory, created by Oly Yoshifuji, a young Japanese inventor, is experimenting with a new restaurant using telepresence.
His robot, OriHime, can be controlled by people who are unable to move their bodies on their own due to severe physical disabilities such as ALS, using only their eyesight.
They can remotely control the avatar robot OriHime to take orders or serve drinks while they are in bed.
The avatar robot OriHime provides not only employment opportunities but also opportunities to build social relationships for people with severe physical disabilities and others who have difficulty participating in society.
Telepresence robots are not just a tool for unmanned and efficient use.
We have the opportunity to use avatar robots to participate in society and build social relationships.
In addition to ALS, there are many people in the world who are unable to go out and participate in society for various reasons.
Disabilities are not limited to physical disabilities.
The Avatar robot can provide opportunities for people who have had difficulty working in Japan due to distance and mobility limitations, visa issues, and so on.
In this article, I will introduce the new way of social participation proposed by Oly Laboratory.
I went to the permanent demonstration store of the Avatar Robot Cafe, where the avatar robot OriHime serves me.
In June 2021, Avatar Robot Cafe DAWNver.beta opened in Nihonbashi, Tokyo, Japan.
This store is a demonstration store for the Oly Laboratory project organized by Oly Yoshifuji, a young Japanese inventor.
In the diner area of the cafe, the avatar robot OriHime will serve you.
The small OriHime at the table introduces the menu and asks for your order.
The large, self-propelled OriHime-D brings drinks to you.
The avatar robot OriHime is not equipped with AI.
The robot is piloted by physically disabled people who are living bedridden or in treatment away from Tokyo.
The Avatar Robot Cafe is a cafe where people with physical disabilities or other reasons that make it difficult for them to go out can use robot bodies to serve customers.
We enjoyed conversations with OriHime pilots and delicious food.
Oly Yoshifuji takes on the challenge of ending loneliness at the Avatar Robot Cafe.
Oly Yoshifuji (real name: Kentaro Yoshifuji) is a young Japanese robotics researcher and businessman born in 1987.
When he was a child, he was too weak to attend school and lived a lonely life for three and a half years.
His mission is "To end loneliness".
He invented the avatar robot OriHime.
OriHime is not equipped with AI.
It is a low-tech robot with only a camera for eyes, a microphone for ears, a speaker for mouth, a working head and arms, and an interface to a network for people who are bedridden with ALS.
He visited and interviewed many physically disabled people, including ALS patients, to improve the robot.
He also created a device for eye input, for which he obtained an international patent.
OriHime has given many bedridden people employment opportunities and the joy of meeting people and traveling to new places.
He built a big OriHime for his best friend.
The robot, named OriHime-D, can move itself and serve drinks.
He experienced the death of his best friend, crowdfunded twice since 2018, and opened a temporary demonstration store.
I've been visiting since the first demonstration store.
The newly opened store will be a permanent location, and a final demonstration is being conducted to see if the store can be sustained economically.
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| First demonstration store in 2018 |
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| Second demonstration store in 2019. |
In Japan, two people die every day from ALS.
What is ALS?
ALS is an abbreviation for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and is famous worldwide for the case of Dr. Steve Hawking, and is also designated as an intractable disease in Japan.
ALS is a disease of unknown cause that causes alterations in motor neurons.
In Japan, 1.1-2.5 cases per 100,000 people, so more than 1,000 people are diagnosed annually.
Of these, only 5% are familial and the rest are solitary.
The progression of ALS is rapid, and patients rapidly lose muscle tone throughout the body, eventually losing the ability to breathe.
If the patient is put on a ventilator, They can live in bed, but it is said that only about 30% of people choose to be put on a ventilator.
This means that 700 people, so more than two people a year, are dying.
Many of them make the decision to die without a ventilator because they don't want to bother their families or they have no reason to live.
What is need for ALS patients to make choices for living?
On the other hand, what are the reasons for those who choose to wear a ventilator?
According to Oly Yoshifuji's interview, many of them said that they still have things to do.
Treatments for ALS are being researched all over the world.
According to The ALS association, four drugs have been approved by the U.S. FDA, but patients need not only a cure but also a purpose to stay alive.
Oly Yoshifuji is taking a different approach to medicine, giving ALS patients the opportunity to make choices about their lives.
What kind of experience can we have at the Avatar Robot Cafe?
The tables in the diner area of the Avatar Robot Cafe are equipped with OriHime and tablets.
When you sit down at a table, an OriHime pilot will be assigned to you to explain the menu and take your order.
We all faced OriHime, paid attention to where the pilot was looking, and tried to read They feelings and have a conversation with Them.
Drinks will be served by OriHime-D.
After bringing drinks to our table, OriHime-D bumped into the table on the way back to the backyard.
My friend got up from his seat and helped OriHime-D recover.
Usually in restaurants we rarely pay attention to or help the waiters.
Many fast-food chains in Japan have begun using a system that allows customers to order from tablets placed at their tables in order to both prevent the spread of infection and reduce labor costs.
However, Avatar Robot Cafe has a concept that goes against technology while using it.
Through the avatar OriHime, we listen to the clerk, try to communicate with him, and try to make a topic of conversation through self-disclosure.
If we try to use technology only for efficiency and unmanned operations, this is unlikely to happen.
At the Avatar Robot Cafe, we can have a new experience in which we try to imagine and relate to the view and humanity of the pilot who is operating OriHime.
Currently, the diner area of cafe requires advance reservations.
The tele-barista system, which will soon be available for public reservation, will allow OriHime to remotely control a barista robot co-developed with Kawada Robotics to suggest specialty coffee and chocolate pairings for us.
The café area and stores can be used without reservations.
In the future, They plan to open a bar, Snack OriHime, where you can enjoy drinks at the bar counter.
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| Tele-varistor developed in collaboration with Kawada Robovics. |
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| OriHime introduce us the goods. |
Avatar robot OriHime can eliminate the difficulty of building social relationships.
ALS is not the only pilot of OriHime.
For example, people with cerebral palsy, congenital myopathies, ossification of the posterior longitudinal ligament, spinal muscular atrophy, angina pectoris, paralysis due to spinal cord injury, Marfan syndrome, muscular dystrophy, osteoarthritis, multiple myeloma, cervical neuromuscular syndrome, chronic fatigue syndrome, multiple sclerosis, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, myasthenia gravis, and many other congenital and acquired conditions that make it difficult for them to go out are piloting OriHime.
Other pilots from various backgrounds, such as those with unrecognized disabilities, somatoform disorders caused by socio-psychological factors, those who have difficulty going out from the house due to nursing care, and those who live overseas and cannot work in Japan due to the distance, are also have roles in society with OriHime.
OriHime is not only a technology for the physically disabled.
People who have difficulty going out or working for various reasons, such as psychological or mental disabilities, old age, or caring for family members, could have the opportunity to participate in society and make social relationships.
In Japan, There are some use case of using OriHime for telework for companies such as NTT.
Relationships between people can be made better by telepresence, which allows for emotional interaction.
What is the things we should be thinking about regarding technology and social relations?
OriHime is not only a robot for the physically disabled, but an avatar robot for making social relationships.
Technology can be used to evoke emotional connections, rather than making social relationships inorganic.
I hope to see a time when we can use technology to base the social relationships we want to make our hopes.
Heroes of the Disabled in Japan.
Ototake Hirotada
Ototake Hirotada is an author, sportswriter, news anchor, and YouTuber born in 1976.
Born without limbs due to a congenital limb deficiency, he published a book in 1998 called "Gotai Fu-Manzoku", which changed the image of the physically disabled, who until then had only been portrayed in the media as objects of pity and tragedy.
In Japan, there is a saying Gotai Manzoku, which expresses gratitude for being born with a body that is not lacking in any of its arms, hands, or legs.
His writings mean not Gotai Manzoku.
He tried to work at education and politics, but was set back by a scandal involving an affair with five women.
In Japan, it is taboo to talk publicly about sexuality and sex among the disabled.
In also this sense, he has proved that there is no gap between the able-bodied and the disabled.
Many young people with disabilities say they have been positively influenced by him.
Since 2018, he has been working with Sony CLS on the OTOTAKE PROJECT, which challenges people with physical disability can walk by robotic body augmentation.
Since he has a congenital disability, he has no experience in walking by swinging his arms and legs.
In order for him to walk alone, there are many technical challenges, including not only traditional prosthetic technology, but also sensors that monitor his whole body posture, and actuators that are balanced and controlled in real time with his prosthetic arms.
Two Years of the Ototake Project (Only Japanese)
https://vimeo.com/368746578
OTOTAKE PROJECT (Only Japanese)
https://www.sonycsl.co.jp/tokyo/ken/6644/
Masatane Muto
Masatane Muto was born in 1986 and is a founder of With ALS.
He was diagnosed with ALS in 2013 at the age of 27, and his mission is "to create a Borderless society where all people can challenge in their own way, starting from the solution of ALS issues. This is his mission.
He also works as a DJ and VJ with his eye input device.
He has created a positive movement not only through his work in human care and welfare, but also by producing fashion brands, producing events, and working in the field of entertainment.
By actively appearing in the media, he is trying to send a message to many people with ALS and other disabilities that there are things they can do to challenge themselves.
WITH ALS (Only Japanese)
https://withals.com/
01 BORDERLESS WEAR STORE (Only Japanese)
https://01borderlesswear.stores.jp/
Finding a chance to make social relationships.
New opportunities for social participation and social relationship building are being tested for people who have had difficulty participating in society for various reasons, and for people whose mobility has been restricted by the global situation.
I would like the world to pay attention to the various efforts being made in Japan, and I would like them to become a trigger for new challenges for people around the world.
Avatar Robot Cafe DAWN ver.β
3 Chome-8-3 Nihonbashihoncho, Chuo City, Tokyo 103-0023
https://goo.gl/maps/XnRcV3rf7jR3uWoK7
Ory Laboratory
https://orylab.com/en/
Thanks for reading.
July 4, 2021, written by Masa - Focus on the interaction.
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