Hello World! Today we find ourselves at a robot cafe in Japan,
but it's not the robot cafe you're thinking of.
This cafe's servers are OriHime robots.
I'm Takemura from the Public Service Projects Department at Nippon Foundation.
We help people with disabilities find work.
This cafe is operated by people with ALS and other severe disabilities
that remotely control the robots.
Hello, konnichiwa, hello!
Welcome to Japan!
Please take your drinks one by one from my tray.
It's hot, so please be careful.
Thank you very much.
Please feel free to use the sugar and milk on the table.
People with ALS slowly lose their ability to control their muscles.
And at some point, they'll need to use a breathing machine to live,
and without technology, they'll need a helper to do most things.
The concept that everyone only has a single body never felt right to me.
If we had more than two bodies we could do a lot of things.
There are 3 people who control their avatars only using eye movements.
So people with ALS who can only use their eyes can operate robots.
Oh, right, these two here use their hands to operate their avatars.
So this cafe was a trial cafe running for only two weeks,
but the aim is to launch a permanent cafe
by the time the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games come to town.
The workers are located all over Japan
and can see, hear, and talk with the customers via their avatars over the internet.
Where are you from?
From Canada.
- Ah Canada! - Vancouver, do you know Vancouver?
Maple syrup.
I'm from Gifu.
Ah Gifu! I have never been to Gifu yet.
My name is Naoko Kazu (Katsu?)
- Naoko Kazu (Katsu?)! - Please call me Naa-chan
Ah, Naa-chan. Nice to meet you.
Yoroshiku onegaishimasu.
Nice to meet you too! Onegaishimasu.
My company makes body double robots.
So called "avatars" in English.
Using those avatars, people who are hospitalized could do...
for example I didn't go to school for 3 1/2 years,
but if I had this avatar, perhaps I could have looked at the blackboard, listened to the teachers,
and interacted with my fellow classmates.
I could have been to field trips, and together, enjoyed school festivals.
I should explain, that even though Yoshifuji san is healthy now,
at age 11 he became ill.
At this time he wasn't good at communicating with people and was bullied.
My life was like a living hell.
I couldn't even step out of my house.
I only stared at my ceiling.
There were times that I wanted to die.
We want to eliminate people's loneliness.
Because when you can't participate in society, you feel loneliness.
Then how can you participate in society?
So we made avatars.
And how can we use the avatars we made?
With telework, being at home, you could get a job and develop stuff,
but it can be really difficult without a lot of knowledge.
It's also difficult to get connections
because you don't meet people.
You need a place to meet people, interact with them, and spend time together.
So we created a cafe.
Yuka-san, can you see over here?
Yes, I can clearly see
everyone's clothes.
Yeah, everyone has their camera on me.
I can see very well.
I have ALS, which doesn't allow me to freely move my muscles.
But I can still use my hands right now.
So I can still use my mouse to control things.
When I have a tracheotomy and can't talk on my own,
there's a talk button I can use.
I will talk using it.
What are you talking about?
What are you doing? (alternate translation)
What's going on? (another translation)
Something like that.
At first, they were shy with no confidence,
but as time went by they started to gain confidence, which was a happy surprise.
Even though it's a robot,
at the beginning it was as if they were looking down.
But now it's like they're standing up straight with confidence.
Unexpectedly, customers really enjoyed the experience, which we were happy to see.
I'm also very happy, thank you very much!
Thank you!
I'm so glad to know that you like cheese and mabo dofu.
That's right.
By 2020, you might see them working at ANA check-in counters,
and actually we've been talking with a coffee company,
In 2020 people visiting Japan from all over the world
may be able to see OriHime working in various places.
Now Japan is an old society where people live for a long time.
Average life expectancy is very long in this country.
But the reality is that there are people living with tubes,
prolonging their life, whether or not they're conscious, treatment is the main goal.
But using this technology, my friends with ALS
can go places using their avatar robots, operating them with their eyes.
There are ALS patients that can work at a place like this,
and in fact there are those who are already working and making money.
Living in bed, not able to talk, only using their eye movement,
people can communicate using SNS,
putting their art into art exhibitions.
There are people like that.
Of course, there are no right answers.
For a human being, it's important that someone needs you.
But one day our bodies will eventually stop working.
Then if we had another body,
in the future we could take care of ourselves (using our avatars).
Bye bye.
Thanks for watching, see you next time, bye!
How is technology being used to give people independence where you're from?