A cafe featuring robot waiters remotely controlled from home by people with severe physical disabilities has been launched in Minato Ward, Tokyo. Five robots measuring 1.2 meters tall, controlled by people with conditions such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a form of motor neuron disease, took orders and served food as the cafe opened Monday on a trial basis. The cafe will be open until Dec. 7. The OriHime-D robots transmit video images and audio via the internet, allowing their controllers to direct them from home via computer. "(The robots) enable physical work and social participation," said Kentaro Yoshifuji, CEO of Ory Lab Inc., the developer of the robot and one of the three entities organizing the cafe.

A cafe will open in Tokyo's Akasaka district in November featuring robot waiters remotely controlled from home by people with severe physical disabilities. The cafe, which will be open on weekdays between Nov. 26 to Dec. 7, will deploy OriHime-D robots controlled by disabled people with conditions such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a form of motor neuron disease. The robot waiters, 1.2 meters tall and weighing 20 kg., will transmit video footage and audio via the internet, allowing their controllers to direct them from home via tablets or computers. At an event marking the OriHime-D's debut in August, a robot controlled by Nozomi Murata, who suffers from auto-phagic vacuolar myopathy that causes muscle weakness, asked a family if they would like some chocolate. "I want to create a world in which people who can't move their bodies can work too," said Kentaro Yoshifuji, chief executive officer of Ory Lab. Inc., the developer of the robots.