Skip to main content

Japanese convenience stores will use VR-controlled robots to stack shelves

Telexistence Inc.

Whether it’s offices, restaurants, or retail stores, every business is trying to figure out the best way to get back to “business as usual” now that the first wave of coronavirus around the world is starting to subside. In Japan, the FamilyMart chain of convenience stores is trying an approach that’s a little bit different: By replacing some in-store assistants with robots to stack shelves.

Recommended Videos

The social distancing robots are made by the Japanese robotics company Telexistence. According to the company’s website, its humanoid Model H robots boast haptic sensors, stereo cameras, and binaural microphones, alongside a design that looks like a cross between the classic “little green men” alien and a Doctor Who Cyberman with a wheeled lower half for easier mobility. The robots were first unveiled in 2018.

This isn’t just another example of robots being used to replace a human workforce, however. Telexistence’s robots are teleoperated by humans who control them via virtual reality headset and haptic gloves. This enables the robot to carry out tasks more effectively, while also having the added benefit that the same store employees who were previously stacking shelves in person will be able to be the ones operating the robots. They will reportedly be working at VR terminals at a separate location.

“Telexistence is a concept of using a remote robot as his or her extended being, to release humans from space-time constraints,” the company’s website notes. “It was first proposed by Dr. Susumu Tachi, Professor Emeritus Professor of the University of Tokyo in 1980. It is an evolutionary form of…robot system where the operator receives sensor information from the remotely located robot and controls the robot to conduct remote tasks.”

This isn’t the first innovative telepresence project we’ve covered from Japan. A couple of years ago, Digital Trends wrote about a restaurant staffed by robots controlled by people with disabilities ranging from spinal cord injuries to ALS. The purpose of the project was to help give independence to individuals who otherwise might not have the chance to carry out work like this, including interacting directly with clientele.

With the emergence of COVID-19, the goal of this FamilyMart initiative is obviously a bit different — being focused more on socially distancing people than connecting them — but it’s nonetheless an impressive look at one possible application for telepresence robots. According to Time Out Tokyo, the robots are being put through their paces in select FamilyMart locations in Tokyo this summer. The aim is to have them installed in 20 stores by 2022.

Luke Dormehl
Former Digital Trends Contributor
I'm a UK-based tech writer covering Cool Tech at Digital Trends. I've also written for Fast Company, Wired, the Guardian…
Elizabeth Olsen says that Marvel movies are ‘not really the art I consume’
Elizabeth Olsen as the Scarlet Witch in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.

For almost a decade, Elizabeth Olsen's Scarlet Witch was a mainstay in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. After first being introduced in 2014's Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Olsen went on to star in several other Marvel films and even her own TV show. In a recent interview with NPR's Wild Card With Rachel Martin, Olsen said that she is still working to prove to the rest of Hollywood that she's more than just Marvel.

“I think I haven’t always successfully made choices in my work that are aligned with my personal taste and that is something I feel like I’m still trying to prove when I meet people,” Olsen said, explaining that her work as Scarlet Witch has shaped how the public sees her. “Especially if it’s a work type meeting and be able to express my personal taste in films and literature, and so I still think I have that to prove.”

Read more
Fantastic Four director says there are ‘no other superheroes’ in the universe of his movie
The Fantastic 4 stand on a platform in "The Fantastic Four: First Steps"

As Marvel ramps up toward Avengers: Doomsday, one of the big new additions to that cast will be the Fantastic Four. We've gotten our first glimpse at the heroes, who occupy their own retro-futuristic universe.

Now, director Matt Shakman is providing some more details on that universe, and just how far removed it is from the rest of the MCU.

Read more
Alan Cumming says that he’s ‘excited and amazed’ to be able to return to Nightcrawler
Alan Cumming as Nightcrawler in X2

There were plenty of expected names in the extended cast reveal for Avengers: Doomsday, along with a few notable absences. Perhaps the most surprising addition to the cast, though, was the return of many of the original Fox X-Men from the early 2000s trilogy. Among the most notable actors returning are Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellan, James Marsden, Rebecca Romjin, and Alan Cumming, who played Nightcrawler in X2: X-Men United.

In a recent interview with Jenna Bush-Hager and Olivia Munn, Cumming said that he was excited to be able to step back into the character after more than 20 years.

Read more