By SHUN YOSHIMURA/ Staff Writer
June 22, 2024 at 08:00 JST
Arisa Nemoto uses a computer to remotely control an OriHime robot from her home. (Provided by herself)
OriHime, a 120-centimeter-tall robot, greets and directs patients at Musashino Hospital in the western Tokyo city of Kodaira, but its underlying main purpose is to help people far from the medical center.
On May 13, the first day of a demonstration experiment at the hospital, the robot said to visitors: “Good morning. Do you have an appointment?”
It then instructed them, “Please proceed to the reception desk on your left.”
Curious patients interacted with OriHime. One asked, “Where are you being controlled from?
The answer was: a woman’s home in Shizuoka Prefecture, more than 100 kilometers from the capital.
The Shizuoka woman, not artificial intelligence, also generated the voice for OriHime.
OriHime was developed by Ory Laboratory Ltd., a company based in Tokyo’s Chuo Ward that promotes social participation among people who have difficulty going out.
The company has deployed hundreds of OriHime robots around Japan.
Equipped with a camera and microphone, OriHime can be remotely controlled through a personal computer or a tablet device.
In addition to having conversations, OriHime can turn its face and move its hands.
The 80 or so operators of the robot are called “pilots,” and they work from home. They include people who cannot commute to work because of illness, child care responsibilities and other reasons.
OPENING OPPORTUNITIES
“I never thought my dream would come true. It was more like being blown away than feeling happy,” Arisa Nemoto said excitedly.
The 26-year-old wheelchair user who lives in Kodaira is serving as a pilot for the demo experiment at the hospital.
She had always dreamed about becoming a nurse, but she developed myalgic encephalomyelitis, a disorder that causes chronic fatigue, five years ago when she was a college student.
She suffered through long bouts against fatigue and was also unable to leave her bed after walking or reading numbers in a textbook.
Nemoto dropped out of college and began using a wheelchair. She currently requests in-home care support three times a week.
Although she wanted to work as a nurse, she ended up hating hospitals. She still sees a doctor on a regular basis, and she was once taken to a hospital in an ambulance when her condition worsened.
Seeing nurses working up close, Nemoto felt the job would be impossible for her when she couldn’t even go outside as she pleased.
However, she soon learned from an acquaintance about the introduction of the robot at nearby Musashino Hospital.
After a document screening, she landed the post of pilot at the hospital.
“It felt like a path that had remained closed opened,” Nemoto said. “I never thought I could work in the medical field.”
She was so eager to work as a pilot that she visited the hospital in her wheelchair on the first day of the demonstration, although she wasn’t on duty.
She observed how another pilot operated OriHime to gain inspiration for the job.
Nemoto operates from home as a receptionist three times a week and is determined to work hard to thank the hospital for hiring her.
“OriHime gave me an opportunity to be connected with society again,” Nemoto said. “When I think about being a part of the workplace, I am really happy because it feels like I’m seen and heard.”
Ory Laboratory has been running a cafe using OriHime in Tokyo’s Nihonbashi district since 2021.
The number of robot deployments has since increased every year. OriHime has been introduced to more than 300 restaurants and nursing homes around the country, the company said.
The robot is also expected to resolve labor shortages.
“The characteristic of OriHime is that it can facilitate mutual communication,” said Fumiya Takagaito of Ory Laboratory. “Unlike regular robots, you can feel the human warmth.”
Musashino Hospital intends to fully introduce OriHime after the two-month demo experiment.
“Eventually, we’re also hoping to allow it to watch over how things are at the hospital,” Akira Kano, the hospital director, said.
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