This was the most interesting part to me, that despite demonstrating that this tech is pretty capable, they still opted to keep a human in the store to handle the actual customer interaction. From...
In this way, however, a single robot operator could keep the drinks stocked at several locations throughout the day while the in-house staff focus on the customers.
This was the most interesting part to me, that despite demonstrating that this tech is pretty capable, they still opted to keep a human in the store to handle the actual customer interaction.
From what I understand, in Japan (and many other countries really) the "convenience store" is where people do a lot of their everyday shopping. So deliberately keeping that human element highlights the social expectation that there's a human experience associated with it. Where I live in the US the corner convenience store is merely a place I get gas and not much else unless it's 2am and I really need Doritos.
Edit to add : Upon further thought, this is actually pretty interesting in terms of normalizing some forms of disability. If it's "normal" to tele-work via a robot, then it literally no longer matters if the person on the other end can't use their legs, or if they can't lift 50lbs.
This was the most interesting part to me, that despite demonstrating that this tech is pretty capable, they still opted to keep a human in the store to handle the actual customer interaction.
From what I understand, in Japan (and many other countries really) the "convenience store" is where people do a lot of their everyday shopping. So deliberately keeping that human element highlights the social expectation that there's a human experience associated with it. Where I live in the US the corner convenience store is merely a place I get gas and not much else unless it's 2am and I really need Doritos.
Edit to add : Upon further thought, this is actually pretty interesting in terms of normalizing some forms of disability. If it's "normal" to tele-work via a robot, then it literally no longer matters if the person on the other end can't use their legs, or if they can't lift 50lbs.