Robovie the robot ensures customers wear masks in Japanese retail store

Robovie the robot Japan
Japanese robot ‘Robovie’ has been developed to ask shop customers to wear face masks and socially distance, as well as guiding them around the shop.

TOKYO (Reuters) – A robot has signed on as the newest staff member at a store in Japan, taking on the job of ensuring customers wear masks and practice social distancing to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

Robovie, developed by Kyoto-based Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute International (ATR), guides customers around the sales floor at the official store of soccer team Cerezo Osaka.

It warns customers when it detects through a camera and 3D laser beam technology that they are not wearing masks or abiding by social distancing rules.

Robovie’s deployment is a trial that started last week and will run at least through the end of the month. It will be extended according to the situation, ATR said.

With around 120,000 reported coronavirus cases and close to 2,000 deaths, Japan has weathered the pandemic better than many nations, and people are mostly compliant with requests to wear masks.

But authorities are calling for vigilance after a resurgence in cases as the weather gets colder and people spend more time indoors.

(Reporting by Hideto Sakai; Writing by Chris Gallagher; Editing by Janet Lawrence)

Editors note: Understandable how this would work in such a polite and civicly-minded society such as Japan, but one wonders how long Robovie would survive in some anti-mask areas of the USA!

Related article: Robots greet suspected coronavirus patients in Tokyo

Be the first to comment

What do you think?

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.