Cafe Opens With Robot Waiters Controlled By People With Disabilities

Leave it to Japan to think of some of the most technologically advanced methods of customer service. Recently, a cafe featuring robot waiters remotely controlled by people with severe physical disabilities has launched in Minato Ward, Tokyo.

Five robots measuring 1.2 meters tall, controlled by people with conditions such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a form of motor neuron disease, took orders and served food as the cafe opened on a trial basis. The cafe Dawn ver.βopened on Nov. 26 and will be open until Dec. 7.

The plan is to have ten people work shifts for 1,000 yen per hour. The OriHime-D robots transmit video images and audio via the Internet, allowing their remote controllers to direct them from home via computer.

“(The robots) enable physical work and social participation,” said Kentaro Yoshifuji, CEO of Ory Lab Inc., the developer of the robot and one of the three entities organizing the cafe.

The three entities, including the Nippon Foundation and ANA Holdings Inc., aim to launch a permanent cafe by the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics.

The organizers also revealed that they formed a partnership to further promote employment assistance for disabled people by utilizing remotely controlled robots.

“Avatar robots have potential…for transportation and communication,” ANA Holdings chairman Shinichiro Ito said.