Human hearts and minds will be at the core of the OrySNACK Kyoto experience.
You might be surprised at what you see when you walk into a place that calls itself a “snack bar” in Japan. Instead of hot dogs, French fries, and other quick and cheap bites to grab during a ballgame or between amusement park rides, in Japan a snack bar is an actual bar that serves light fare to be paired with its drinks. Customers are encouraged to take their time and leisurely enjoy not only their food and beverages, but also chatting with the bartender, who’s usually affectionately called the “mama” or “master” of the establishment.
However, even if you know all that, you might still be surprised when you walk into a new snack bar that’s opening soon in Kyoto, because the mama/master at the counter will be a robot.
OrySNACK Kyoto, as the bar is called, is not part of AI venture companies’ continued efforts to encroach on as many aspects of life as possible. Instead, human “pilots” remotely control the robot bartender, which is the latest model from Tokyo-based Ory Labs.
When it began building avatar robots, Ory Labs’ initial goal was to give children and adolescents who are unable to attend classes in-person (either due to physical or mental health issues) a way to have a presence within their schools and form bonds with classmates. Ory Labs then realized that its inventions could produce similar benefits for adults who’re unable to work outside the home. The OriHime robot’s remote controls allow it to be piloted even by someone who’s lying down, and this feature, the designers say, means that it can be controlled by individuals with spinal cord injuries, muscular dystrophy, ALS, and SMA.
In addition to the economic benefits of improved work opportunities, Ory Labs believes that projects like OrySNACK Kyoto can provide a sense of purpose and interpersonal connection. “OrySNACK Kyoto is not just a place that serves drinks,” the organization says, but a place for creating connections between the people who gather there. One of the reasons Kyoto was chosen as the location is that the city draws a wide range of travelers, both young and old, domestic and international, thus presenting the robots’ controllers with opportunities to speak with a diverse group of customers. A previous iteration of OrySNACK, held in Tokyo this past summer, offered English-proficient robot bartenders, though it’s not clear whether that’ll be an option for the Kyoto bar.
▼ OrySNACK Kyoto will be serving sake from Kitagawahonke, a brewer that opened in Kyoto’s Fushimi district in the year 1657.
Previously, Ory Labs has arranged for OriHime robots to work shifts in cafes and fast food restaurants, but bartending allows for yet another avenue of applications for the technology, and with closer interaction with customers too. OrySNACK Kyoto will also be the debut for a newly developed model of the robot, the OriHime-D.
Ory Labs says that its long-term hope is for one of its robot pilots to someday own and manage their own bar remotely. For the time being, though, OrySNACK Kyoto will be a limited-time event inside the soon-to-open Bookhome bookstore in Kyoto’s Shijo Karasuma neighborhood. There’s currently a crowdfunding campaign going on via Japan’s Campfire website, but the roughly 7.4 million yen (US$47,000) it’s raised is already around 150 percent of its target, and the campaign still has three weeks to go. In other words, OrySNACK Kyoto will definitely be opening on December 4, as well as having pre-opening seatings for certain backers from November 19, so if you’d like to secure your seats, the robot bar’s crowdfunding page can be found here.
Source: Campfire, PR Times
Images: Campfire
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