Cafe In Tokyo With Robot Waiters Controlled By Disabled Staff

We all imagine that in the future, there will be cafes where we will be served by robots. But one cafe in Tokyo might be one step ahead when they have already offered that but with a twist. If you pay a visit to the “Dawn ver.β”, you will be greeted by robot waiters who will take your orders and serve you food and drinks.

It seems to be very futuristic, but there is a twist here. The robots aren’t run by AI or any kind of advanced automation system. There is a group of human staff with disabilities working from their homes that remotely control these robots. The organizations that are behind this robot cafe are ANA Holdings, the Nippon Foundation, and Ory Lap Inc. The cafe is currently really famous, and its creators have more plans to come.

Ory Lab created the robots which are radio-controlled at the cafe. A system transmits information back and forth between the human controller and the bot. Using a computer interface, the bots are easy to control via a traditional screen or a tablet. The disabled staff can work right from their homes.

The robots are designed to look really futuristic and sleek with color-coded eyes for identification. They can fully move around the cafe following set up paths, communicating with customers, and serving orders. Via built-in text-to-voice features, the controllers can easily communicate like they were in the cafe in person.

These robots can get the job done even though they don’t move around particularly fast.

The cafe, according to its creator, is created as an opportunity for disabled people to become involved in ‘social participation and physical work’. It is still completely brand new and an experiment. The companies hope that a permanent version of the cafe will soon be launched in the future, right in time for the hosting of Tokyo for the Olympics and Paralympics in 2020.