FamilyMart trialled the same robots last month, and says it plans to have them working in 20 of its stores by 2022. Telexistence does not plan to sell the robots and VR systems directly to stores, but will provide them for a fee. It would not disclose the price but said it would be cost-competitive with human labor. "A remote-controlled robot allows one person to work at multiple stores," says Satoru Yoshizawa, a representative of FamilyMart. Compared to other countries, Japan's labor shortage means there's less concern that the deployment of robots will result in human job losses.

Source: CNN September 15, 2020 01:07 UTC