OriHime
Robot worker helps quarantined fast-food employees work from home
Mos Burger, Japan’s most popular domestic hamburger chain, will be welcoming a new employee, named OriHime. That spelling, with two capital letters, might seem unusual, but it’s just the first of many surprises, and the second is that OriHime is a robot. OriHime will be working the register at Mos Burger’s Osaki branch in Tokyo, not far from the company’s headquarters, taking orders and answering questions customers might have about the menu. Naturally, she’ll be dressed in uniform, with a neatly tied apron, jaunty cap, and a “wakaba mark,” the green-and-yellow leaf-shaped insignia that denotes trainees and other workers who’re new at their position. However, just because OriHime is working at Mos doesn’t mean the company is trying to take human workers out of the equation. Just the opposite, really, as the robot is instead being installed as a way to let people who can’t commute continue working and earning. OriHime isn’t automated, but remote controlled.