Japanese robot to clock in at a convenience store in test of retail automation
In August, a robot vaguely resembling a kangaroo will get started stacking sandwiches, drinks and ready meals on shelves at a Japanese convenience store in a test its maker, Telexistence, hopes will help trigger a wave of retail automation.
Following that trial, store operator FamilyMart says it plans to use robot staff at 20 stores around Tokyo by 2022. At first, persons will operate them remotely - before machines' artificial intelligence (AI) can figure out how to mimic human movements. Rival convenience store chain Lawson is deploying its first robot in September, according to Telexistence.
"It increases the scope and scale of human existence," the robot maker's leader, Jin Tomioka, said as he explained how its technology lets persons sense and experience places other than where they are.
The theory, dubbed telexistence, was first proposed by the beginning up's co-founder, University of Tokyo professor Susumu Tachi, four decades ago.
Their company has received funding from technology investment company Softbank Group and cellphone service operator KDDI in Japan, with overseas investors including European passenger aircraft maker Airbus SE. It dubbed its robot the Model T, a nod to the Ford Motor car that started the era of mass motoring a hundred years ago.
Its quirky design is meant to help shoppers feel at ease because persons can feel uncomfortable around robots that look too human.
Escaping factories
Robots remain a rare sight in public areas. Although they are able to outperform humans in manufacturing plants built around them, they have a problem with simple tasks in more unpredictable urban settings.
Solving that performance problem could help businesses in industrialised nations, particularly those in rapidly ageing Japan, cope with fewer workers. Firms hit by the coronavirus outbreak may also have to operate with fewer people.
Because the outbreak started, hotels, restaurants and even gas and oil companies have contacted Telexistence, Tomioka said.
"It's difficult to tell now what impact robots may have in restaurants - it could mean fewer people, but it may possibly also create new jobs," said Niki Harada, the official at Japan's Restaurant Workers Union.
Using human operators with virtual reality goggles and motion-sensor controls to teach its machines slashes the cost of retail robotics weighed against complex programming that can cost 10 times a lot more than as the hardware and take months to complete, Telexistence says.
Although FamilyMart will still need humans to control its robots, operators could be anywhere and include persons who not normally work in stores, said Tomohiro Kano, an over-all manager responsible for franchise development.
"There are about 1.6 million persons in Japan, who for various reasons aren't active in the workforce," he said.
Future telexistence robots could also be found in hospitals so doctors could perform functions from remote locations, predicted Professor Takeo Kanade, an AI and robotics scientist at Carnegie Mellon University in america, who joined Telexistence in February as an adviser.
It could take another 20 years before robots can work in people's homes, however, he said.
"In order for robots to be really usable at home we really need to be able to communicate. The essential thing that's lacking is knowing how humans behave."
Source: www.thejakartapost.com
