{"id":104073,"date":"2024-04-05T15:49:48","date_gmt":"2024-04-05T20:49:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?p=104073"},"modified":"2024-04-05T15:49:48","modified_gmt":"2024-04-05T20:49:48","slug":"tokyos-innovative-robot-cafe-paves-path-for-inclusive-employment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/tokyos-innovative-robot-cafe-paves-path-for-inclusive-employment\/","title":{"rendered":"Tokyo’s innovative robot cafe paves path for inclusive employment"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Glendalys Valdes
\n<\/b>Medill Reports<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

TOKYO <\/span>\u2014 In Japan, only 19% of working-age people with disabilities are employed, according to a <\/span>Bloomberg calculation<\/span><\/a>, but Dawn Avatar Robot Cafe in Tokyo challenges those barriers by employing people who have physical disabilities and are otherwise unable to work.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ory Laboratory<\/a>, the company that built and opened the cafe in 2021, created OriHime, a robot that can be controlled from a smartphone or tablet and can be used to see, hear and talk. Through OriHime, employees can interact and engage with customers even while working from home.<\/p>\n

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Employee Nanaka operates the OriHime robot and talks with customers while working remotely, Feb. 9, 2024. (Glendalys Valdes\/MEDILL)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cI work at this cafe where I can work remotely through a remote-control OriHime robot,\u201d said Nanaka, 18, an Avatar Robot Cafe employee, who is home-bound. She has worked at the robot cafe for the past three months.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Currently, more than 60 employees work at the cafe and operate the robots. All of the employees have physical disabilities ranging from ALS to multiple sclerosis.<\/span><\/p>\n

Halfway around the world, researchers at the University of Chicago\u2019s Human-Robot Interaction Lab also hope to develop social robots.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI think robots have incredible potential to assist people,\u201d said Sarah Sebo, assistant professor of computer science and director of the HRI Lab.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAs robots become hopefully a little bit cheaper, more robust, more capable of communicating with people, we could see things like robot house assistance that could maybe allow an older adult to stay independent in their home for longer,\u201d Sebo said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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The HRI Lab showcases research projects at the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry Robot Block Party event, April 9, 2022. (Photo Courtesy of HRI Lab)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

HRI Lab researchers hope to improve human-to-human interactions and inclusion for the elderly and disabled.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThere are definitely a lot of ways that robots could be utilized in order to help people,\u201d Sebo said. \u201cI think that in order to do all of this, though, there are a lot of social interactions that will happen between people\u2026which can be used to improve a robot\u2019s understanding of group dynamics.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n