These robots in hotels and restaurants are controlled by real people – how remote jobs are giving 2 paraplegic Hongkongers a new lease of life
- Paraplegics Kwan Siu-fai and Eddie Lau remotely operate customer service robots at a restaurant and a Hyatt hotel, taking orders and directing guests
- It’s part of Project Dignity, created by Singaporean engineer and entrepreneur Koh Seng Choon who was inspired by the movie Avatar
At Dignity Kitchen, a tablet-bearing robot greets you at the door, interacts with customers and staff, and reminds incoming guests to scan the LeaveHomeSafe contact-tracing app.
The face and voice on the screen of the robot, Temi, belong to Kwan Siu-fai, a 44-year-old paraplegic who has been mostly housebound since an accident in 2019.
Afterwards, the former security guard was not able to find work – until he was hired by Dignity Kitchen, a social enterprise restaurant in Mong Kok where disabled people cook Singaporean hawker food.
Kwan works out of a centre operated by SAHK, a rehabilitation service organisation, a few days a week. When his shift starts at 11am, he turns on two tablets and puts on headphones with a microphone attached.
On one tablet, he launches software that allows him to see where his robot is at Dignity Kitchen. The other gives him different camera angles of the restaurant.
