Since 2018, people with disabilities in Tokyo have taken advantage of the opportunity to work as cafe staff through OriHime, the smart robot at the pop-up cafe "Avatar Cafe DAWN".
Cited on the page, Japantoday, Avatar Cafe DAWN seeks to eliminate human loneliness by recruiting people with disabilities to enjoy working as cafe staff and communicating directly with customers..
After several successful pop-up cafes that were attended by more than 5.000 people since 2018, OriHime maker, OryLab , decided to open a permanent cafe in Tokyo in June.
This cafe is intended by OryLab to be a flagship store that will use OriHime to advocate for a new form of social participation for people who have difficulty traveling outside..
Avatar Cafe DAWN is reportedly going to open in Nihonbashi, and OryLab also plans to move their headquarters to the same facility.
Robot OriHime
OriHime is a Japanese robot that is multifunctional. Like most robots made in Japan, This robot is full of circuits, programming chip, and has a human-like outer shell.
OriHime's insides are also intrinsically human in many ways that its robotic brothers lack.
OriHime's goal is to be a platform that empowers people who have difficulty getting out or moving because of a disability or serious illness such as ALS to connect with everyday society and the people in it..
Practically, robots can support bed bound people to connect with distant families, or do a job for example.
Then how exactly will DAWN's Avatar Cafe work?
The cafe will be managed by two types of OriHime robots that have been used previously in pop-up cafes.
OriHime as a stationary robot on the table is used to receive orders from customers and communicate with them.
This small robot is capable of performing a variety of poses that staff with disabilities can use to communicate emotionally with customers in addition to voice-based interactions. Each desk also has an iPad to support ordering and text-based communication with staff.
From a staff perspective, they can see cafe customers through their computer screens, while piloting OriHime via software which can be operated with minimal eye movements.
This makes OriHime user friendly for staff who face physical restrictions on their movement.
In addition to OriHime, robot “Orihime-D” the larger ones are mobile in nature and can be driven around cafes to deliver food to customers.
At a pop-up cafe, Orihime and Orihime-D have been piloted by separate people, create more opportunities for people with disabilities to work directly in order to support cafe operation and chat with customers.
It is not yet confirmed by OryLab how they will operate and set up a permanent location in Nihonbashi. Creating new opportunities for persons with disabilities to participate in society.
As proof of their concept, one person trained as a staff controlling robot for the pop-up cafe, Avatar Cafe DAWN was hired remotely for a company in July 2020 then.
The physical location of Avatar Cafe DAWN will offer new possibilities for social participation for those with severe disabilities, which will hopefully lead to an expansion of remote work opportunities outside of the OriHime-powered cafes.
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