Telework "avatar work," in which people with disabilities can engage in physical work such as customer service, is being implemented in society. In order to enable avatar work in a variety of occupations, we propose a mobile sales system using a mobile frozen drink machine and an avatar robot "OriHime", focusing on mobile customer service like peddling. The effect of the peddling by the system on the customers are examined based on the results of video annotation.

At a Tokyo cafe, Michio Imai greets a customer, but not in person. Dawn cafe's robots are intended to be more than a gimmick, offering job opportunities to people who find it hard to work outside the home. How are you?" a sleek white robot shaped like a baby penguin calls from a counter near the entrance, turning its face to customers and waving its flippers. Imai is behind the controls at his home in Hiroshima, 800 km away, one of around 50 employees with physical and mental disabilities who work as Dawn's "pilots," operating robot staff. The cafe opened in central Tokyo's Nihonbashi district in June and employs staff across Japan and overseas, as well as some who work on site. It was originally supposed to open last year to coincide with the Paralympics, but the opening was postponed by the pandemic -- just like the Games, which began on Tuesday. Around 20 miniature robots with almond-shaped eyes sit on tables and in other parts of the cafe, which has no stairs and smooth wooden floors large enough for wheelchairs. The machines named OriHime feature cameras, a microphone and a speaker to allow operators to communicate with customers remotely. "May I take your order?" one asks, next to a tablet showing a menu of burgers, curry and salad. As customers chat with the pilots operating the mini robots, three larger, humanoid versions move around to serve drinks or welcome customers at the entrance. And there's even a barista robot in a brown apron at the bar that can make coffee with a French press. But the robots are largely a medium through which workers can communicate with customers. "I talk to our customers about many subjects, including the weather, my hometown and my health condition," said Imai, who has a somatic symptom disorder that makes leaving home difficult. "As long as I'm alive, I want to give something back to the community by working.

The education board in Hiroshima Prefecture has pioneered the use of a pint-sized "surrogate robot" to realize what was previously considered impossible: allowing hospitalized students to take classes remotely without being monitored by teachers. The success of the board's tech-savvy initiative, considered an educational first in Japan, has prompted the education ministry to relax rigid requirements that have long prevented many hospitalized high school students from qualifying for class attendance. Under the board's initiative, jointly developed with Hiroshima University Hospital, a 23-centimeter-tall robot called Orihime is placed in a classroom to act as an avatar for an ill student in the hospital. The Orihime robot simultaneously records and broadcasts the content of each class for hospitalized students to watch on their tablets, enabling them to take part in classes in real time. Students not only can watch real-time footage but speak to their classmates or teachers through the robot as well. They can also command Orihime to move and make a variety of gestures, such as turning its head sideways and waving.

Teleworking, a key part of the government's work-style reform initiative, is slowly evolving as a result of efforts to make up for difficulties in communication among colleagues. One such effort that is drawing attention is the use of avatar robots to smooth out communication between those clocking in from home and those at the office. A number of companies are trying to adopt various reforms under the initiative, and there is even one firm where all staff members work remotely. Nippon Telegraph and Telephone East Corp., a subsidiary of telecommunications giant Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp., began using robots called OriHime in April 2016 as part of its efforts to promote teleworking, a policy aimed at allowing employees to continue working while raising children or caring for aging parents. Using OriHime, remote workers can view their office and communicate with their colleagues.

Yuuta Banda poses for a photo with OriHime, his robot avatar. When Yuuta Banda was just four years old, he suffered a car accident that left him paralyzed, connected to a respiratory machine, and confined to bed for life. But almost two decades later, he's been able to experience different places, and even find a job thanks to OriHime, his robot avatar. "At first I couldn't understand what was so great about OriHime, but I gradually learned through using it that [the robot] afforded people with a sense of presence," Banda told me in an email. "I felt a greater sense of satisfaction as I spoke with people in different places to me through the robot."