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In the promotional video below, released by the Kochi Visitors & Convention Association, the Nin Nin robot looks intimidating, with its masked face and eyes that light up neon green. In reality, it’s a cute little droid small enough to sit on your shoulder, designed to help people get around.
Nin Nin, designed by Ory Lab Inc, the same company behind Nihonbashi’s new robot café, was invented as an aid for the visually impaired. The robot can be used in lieu of a guide dog to help blind people navigate a city, by allowing a sighted person to view a live feed from the Nin Nin while also using the bot to talk to the wearer, effectively becoming the blind person’s ‘eyes’.
The so-called body-sharing technology, of course, has endless potential to help people who aren’t visually impared, too. Aside from the ability to assist foreign visitors with language barriers, one prefecture is betting the ninja robot could also be the ideal solution for virtual tourism in the age of Covid-19.
Starting May 12, Kochi prefecture will be offering free live-stream online tours using the Nin Nin robot that anyone can join remotely. In this unprecedented virtual tour, a guide will walk along Kochi’s pristine Niyodo River with the bot on their shoulder to give wanderlusters a taste of what the area has to offer. The tour will most likely be entirely in Japanese, but you won’t need any language skills to appreciate the beautiful scenery.
To take part, simply tune into the Instagram live-stream on the campaign’s official account from 12noon JST on Wednesday May 12. Organisers have said that if the first virtual tour goes according to plan, Nin Nin could be used to show people more places around Kochi in the near future.
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