Technology of Business reporter The remote-controlled shop assistant In a quiet aisle of a small supermarket in Tokyo, a robot dutifully goes about its work. Reaching down, it grabs yet another bottle of a flavoured drink that humans like, lifts it and places it on the shelf of a refrigerated unit. Then the next one. People come and go. It looks like a well-integrated autonomous mechanical worker, but that is something of an illusion. This robot doesn’t have a mind of its own. Several miles away, a human worker is controlling its every movement remotely and watching via a virtual reality (VR) headset that provides a robot’s eye view. This is the work of Japanese firm Telexistence, whose Model-T robot is designed to allow people to do physical labour in supermarkets and other locations from the comfort of their own homes. In this case, the robot is working at a FamilyMart shop in Tokyo. Eventually, it will handle more than just drinks bottles – rice balls, bento boxes and sandwiches should all be within its grasp. The Model-T is a "human avatar" says Yuichiro Hikosaka, board director at Telexistence. One human could control several robots in different locations "You […]

Click here to view original web page at www.bbc.co.uk