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Robot-Powered Hotel in Nagasaki Staffs Androids, Dinosaurs
posted on by Lynzee Loveridge
The Henn-na Hotel (Strange Hotel) at Huis Ten Bosch theme park near Nagasaki opened to reporters on Wednesday. The hotel's reception desk is manned by two robots, an Acteroid robot that speaks Japanese and an intimidating dinosaur that speaks English.
Check-in is still done somewhat manually by the guest and Aiko and the dinosaur can't call a cab or some of the more complicated requests. The hotel has forgone room keys in favor of facial recognition cameras and a giant robo-arm can stow your valuable items away for you. A drink and snack robot is currently in training to deliver guest's room service and the hotel's manager Hideo Sawada is also eyeing a drone-led entertainment show.
After visitors check in, they're greeted in their room by Tuly, a tulip-like robot that can answer your basic questions about the weather and turn the room's lights off for you. Security and housekeeping are still managed by human staff.
The hotel plans to employ Pepper and NAO humanoid robots. Right now, Sawada is only renting out half of the rooms at a low 9,000 yen (US$72) as all the staff, human and robot alike, get into their groove.
Source: The Japan Times
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