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D&AD Annual 2020

Avatar Robot Cafe
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  • Design TransformationDigital Transformation
  • Future ImpactInitiative

Year

  • 2020

Country

  • Japan

Client

  • Ory Laboratory

Production Company

  • Sunny Side Up

PR

  • SUNNY SIDE UP

Event Production

  • ZYX INTERNATIONAL

Creative Director

  • Yoshihiro KOZUKA
  • Kenshiro SADAKA

Creative Technologist

  • Yoshihiro KOZUKA
  • Kenshiro SADAKA

PR Director

  • Satoshi INNAMI

PR Manager

  • Masami SHIMAMURA

PR Planner

  • Masaya UCHIDA

Copywriter

  • Satoshi INNAMI

Art Director

  • Taku KASAHARA

Designer

  • Kei TAKIMOTO

Creative Producer

  • Mutsumi HAYASHIDA

Production Manager

  • Sakura EGAMI
  • Kenta TERADA

Director

  • Sho MATSUKI

Director of Photography

  • Sho SATO

Editor

  • Sho TOMINAGA

Event Producer

  • Chihiro KATO

Product Manager

  • Miho FUJIOKA
  • Shodai KAKO

Account Executive

  • Akihiko KIYOMIYA
  • Atsushi HAYASHI

Event Planner

  • KOSUKE AONO

Advertising Agency

  • ADK Marketing Solutions
  • ADK Creative One

Design Agency

  • ADK Creative One

At Avatar Robot Cafe, people with disabilities remotely controlled robot avatars - such as Orihime, which is controlled by via eye tracker - to wait on tables. The cafe opened for three weeks in Tokyo to create more employment opportunities for people with disabilities. The project was covered in more than 500 articles, with media exposure worth 7.6m USD. Most importantly, more than five handicapped people who participated were successfully hired by a company after the project.

Comment from D&AD Community

  • Disarmingly futuristic, The Robot Café offers a literal out of body experience to the severely disabled. Harnessing human, not artificial, intelligence and unlocking potential for those with limited mobility. It made me uncomfortable, it made me think, it challenged my preconceptions and it made me feel. The stuff of science fiction becoming science fact and inspiring hope for a fulfilling life beyond the boundaries of the human body.

    Sarah Moffat, CCO, Turner Duckworth
  • The tech itself is mind-blowing, and in Covid-19 this could be expanded further, for example for elderly people who can’t go out.

    Des Tapaki, Digital Experience Director, Honest Digital

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