Ory Lab’s OriHime-D robot allows those with disabilities to control it remotely for work at Tokyo’s Dawn ver. Beta cafe. (Image credit: KYODO)
Ory Laboratories describe their OriHime robot line as “your new body that you can easily control remotely,” and for a good reason, as the company’s OriHime-D is being employed in Tokyo’s Dan ver. Beta cafe, allowing those with physical disabilities to work as waiters.
The anthropomorphic robot stands at 4-feet tall, weighs about 44-pounds, and features a camera in its head, along with a microphone and speaker that feeds audio and video to a PC or tablet over the internet. Controlling the telepresence robot is simple enough that users with ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis) can interface with the robot using an eye-tracking platform similar to that of Stephen Hawking.
During a demonstration given by Ory Labs to debut their OriHime-D back in August, Nozomi Murata, who is afflicted with autophagic vacuolar myopathy (a neuromuscular disorder that causes muscular weakness), successfully controlled the robotic waiter. While that may seem like an underwhelming feat, it opens up the doors to employment and other social interactions for people who have physical disabilities, including those in retirement communities who still want to work but are unable to leave their homes.
A pilot test run of the OriHime-D at the café is set for November 26th to December 7th, and if it’s successful, Ory Labs plans to permanently open up their own cafe as a show model to entice other companies into adopting their robotic platform during the run-up to the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics in 2020. Telepresence robots are capable of opening up new worlds for those with disabilities, giving them a sense of inclusion in social settings. It will be interesting to see how the OriHime-D advances and what job sectors will adopt the robot in the months and years ahead.
Have a story tip? Message me at: cabe(at)element14(dot)com
