Kentaro Yoshifuji, Co-Founder and CEO, Oly Research Institute, Inc.

Rounded form. It looks like a Noh mask and has a somewhat adorable expression. Gradually, the image of a person in the background comes to mind. The communication robot "OriHime" was introduced to the world by Orii Laboratory Co. CEO Kentaro Yoshifuji developed this robot alter ego based on his own experience of not attending school.

The Modern Disease of Loneliness Eroding People's Lives

Loneliness is a situation in which a person feels that he or she is not needed by anyone and is tormented by pain and suffering, according to Mr. Yoshifuji of the ORIY Institute. Children who are unable to attend school due to illness or injury, the elderly who live alone, young people who have withdrawn from society, and people with limited mobility who have some difficulty when going out. In Japan today, tens of millions of people are suffering from the disease of loneliness. It is said to cause depression and dementia, and in the UK, a new post of Minister for Loneliness was created in the Cabinet in 2018. Loneliness is certainly becoming a social problem.

You can't do what you took for granted.

The ORIY Institute's mission is to solve loneliness. Mr. Yoshifuji, the president of the institute, himself has a history of deep loneliness. When he was in the fifth grade of elementary school, he stopped going to school and stayed at home for more than three years. He was unable to speak, laugh, or go out. I couldn't do the things I used to be able to do. It was really painful. He felt as if there was no place for him anywhere, and he was almost crushed by anxiety about the future.

Mr. Yoshifuji was saved by an encounter with his former teacher at a technical high school. Mr. Yoshifuji discovered the joy of manufacturing and fell in love with it. He participated in a robot contest and won with flying colors. This was the catalyst that brought him back to his daily life. He says, "Meeting people changes you. I believe that we should never stop meeting people," he says. He has developed an alter-ego robot that allows him to go meet the people he wants to meet.

There are currently more than 40,000 children in Japan who are unable to attend school due to illness or injury. There are also an estimated 540,000 people between the ages of 15 and 39 who are socially withdrawn in the broad sense, and 9 million elderly people who live alone. There are also more than 34 million "mobility-impaired" people who have some difficulty in going out due to physical disabilities, advanced age, childcare, or other reasons.

With my other self.

OriHime, a communication robot developed by Mr. Yoshifuji, uses technology to solve the issues that contribute to loneliness. The primary solution offered by this robot is to remove the restriction of "mobility. In today's society, most services are designed to be mobile. Schools, restaurants, and jobs are not designed to be mobile. With OriHime, even people with physical barriers can visit friends and family from the comfort of their beds.

We are also seeing the effect of lowering the hurdles to "interaction. Even a person with a limp can get around in a wheelchair. However, there is still no effective prescription for communication skills. OriHime" can help ease the tension of those who have communication problems, such as difficulty speaking or not knowing what to say. It has been shown that people who normally have difficulty speaking can become more talkative and that it can lower stress.

For them, "OriHime" is their other self that supports what they cannot do.

At the alter-ego robot café, ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) patients served coffee using "OriHime-D.

Nothing in the world is complete.

Mr. Yoshifuji, who has been vigorously introducing new products to the world, is currently focusing on providing "roles" through "OriHime. Even if you have your own desk at school, if you don't feel like you belong there, you will still be lonely. It is necessary to design some kind of role for being there.

OriLab has developed "OriHime-D," a 120-cm-long alter ego robot. In January 2020, OriHime-D will be used by people with severe disabilities such as ALS to work as café clerks at an alter-ego robot café. OriHime-D is a new form of social participation.

I realized, "There are things I can do, too. Nothing in the world is complete. It is our job to fill in the missing pieces. Because the world is incomplete, there must be something we can do, even though we are incomplete.

(Text by Kaori Nakajima)

*Reprinted from "Education Support vol. 46