New café in Tokyo houses all robot staff operated remotely by people with disabilities

A new café recently opened in Tokyo is entirely staffed by robots controlled by disabled people remotely. Contrary to the negative side of automation, the café creates jobs for people with severe debilitating conditions like amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and spinal cord injuries.

Named Diverse Avatar Working Network) ver.β (DAWN), the café was launched as a joint project between Ory Lab, which develops the robots, Nippon Foundation, and ANA Holdings. The robots serving in the café is OriHime-D–a 4-foot-tall, altogether robot that moves, look around, handles objects, and speak with patrons at Tokyo’s Café. It has a built-in camera, a microphone and a speaker and can remotely control from a smartphone or a PC using the Internet.

Joysticks, blow tubes, or just the movements of the eye easily control the robots to serve coffee and intermingle with the customers. The disabled person or other people who cannot get out of home can earn money comfortably working from home or nursing home.

Currently, there is a staff of 10 people all working remotely from home and get paid 1,000 yen (US$8.80) an hour (a standard wage for part-time work in Japan).

The café was a pilot project for a temporary period and was funded by crowdfunding drive which doubled its funding goal. If the funds are made available on a regular basis, it is hoped that a full-fledged Dawn will open in 2020.

Here is a promo video to give a glimpse of how the concept works

A more realistic demonstration of how a operator controls the robot

A video of the opening ceremony

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Via SoraNews

Ob/Gyn Updated Facebook page

World smallest, most accurate, MRI compatible robot for precise breast cancer biopsy unveiled.

Robots have already carved out a space in health industry and have revolutionized the way the healthcare is delivered round the world- from nanobots that scrape the arterial walls to remove plaque to Blue-Collar Robots that roam around in hospitals performing menial tasks.

The researchers at University of Twente have launched the smallest, accurate 3D printed plastic robot compatible to be used in MRI scanner. The robot is aptly named The Stormram 4, and is used to perform biopsy during a breast cancer scan in an MRI, significantly improving the precision and accuracy. When implemented into clinical practice, it enables very early and precise detection and treatment of breast cancer and has the capacity to  save thousands of lives.  

MRI scanners are the current norm for the extremely accurate detection and anatomical localization of the abnormal tissue. But, currently there is no way to take a biopsy from the tissue in real time. Instead scans are taken prior to the biopsy that helps the movement and direction of the needle for taking a tissue sample. Soft tissues like breast allows for significant tissue movement and the mass can be displaced since the last scan.

The Stormram 4, is made up of 3D printed plastic and is driven by air pressure. It is small enough to fit the MRI scanner’s tunnel and is controlled by 5-meter-long air pipes outside the scanner. The 3D printed robot is capable of accurately maneuvering a needle tip near the lesion, within a range of a few millimeters, a level of precision which would be very difficult if not impossible for a human hand to achieve.

It recently competed and won an award in the Surgical Robot Challenge 2017 at the Hamlyn Symposium in London.

The Stormram 4 project was carried out by Vincent Green House MSc, Dr. Françoise Siepel and Prof. Stefano Stramigioli of the Robotics and Mechatronics (RAM) lab at the University of Twente.

This video from the University of Twente shows off the new robot.

 Photo Courtesy: University of Twente