Have you ever thought to yourself that you wish someone else could do a task for you, like going to the store and ordering food at a restaurant, but you’ve been too nervous to ask them? What if you had a robot to do the tasks you find hard to complete, and they wouldn’t pass any judgement whatsoever? OriHime, the new alter ego robot can do just that. But how does this new automaton work? And will it really ease your social anxiety? What about the rest of the world,will they accept this new technology as a common exception for people? Let’s take a closer look at answering these questions.

The OriHime robot is only nine inches tall with calming green eyes. The person controlling their OriHime robot can interact with people remotely through an app on their phone, giving them the freedom to complete their tasks without ever leaving the comfort of their home. By sending the robot out into the world to do your socializing for you, developers hope to help to ease the burden for people with severe social anxiety, especially those who can’t even leave their homes. With the COVID-19 pandemic, this has only worked to increase the problem, and the developers of OriHime have never seen more of a need for this alter ego robot than now.

In Japan, there is a word to describe people that have an extreme social detachment: hikikomori. The hikikomori have severe social anxiety and find it difficult to leave their homes. OriHime robots have been deployed to hikikomori to help them with exploring their surroundings, all without ever leaving their home. Community centers have been set up where people can socialize with other hikikomori to help and encourage their anxiety disorders. In Japan, it’s estimated that 1.2 percent of the population suffer from severe social anxiety, and the developers of the OriHime robot are hoping that their creation will help to ease the suffering of these people.

In addition to helping the hikikomori with social anxiety issues, the OriHime robot has also been deployed to help people work remotely, especially those with disabilities. By controlling and speaking through the robot remotely, someone who wasn’t able to work in a cafe because of their disability may be able to wait tables through OriHime. OriHime may also be able to deliver items, and operate in an office by someone controlling their actions on the other side. With new uses for these robots being developed, it will only be a matter of time until the rest of the world will follow suit, and work to make their operations and daily tasks controlled remotely full-time.

While some may still have opposition to using a robot to complete their tasks and socialize for them, the OriHime alter ego robot has become a helpful tool to ease social anxiety for many suffering from the mental disorder.