Robotic employees such as hotel concierges and English teachers are nothing new in Japan, but here is its first robotic bartender. QBIT Robotics created this chatty robot that works in one of Tokyo's Yoronotaki izakaya restaurants.
Japan is already known for being at the forefront of humanoid robots that take over traditionally human jobs (hotel concierge and elderly companions, for instance). Now they can add robot funeral priests to their list.
Japan's telecommunications company SoftBank just unveiled "Pepper," its robot priest, dressed in Buddhist robes, that can chant Buddhist scriptures, play the drum, and livestream the ceremony for people who can't attend the funeral in person. — Read the rest
The Henn Na Hotel ("weird hotel") is staffed by robots: the Japanese-speaking check-in clerk is a vicious robot dinosaur, while the English-speaking one is humanoid; a robot arm stores and retrieves personal items from the guest lockers, and a chatbot serves as concierge.
Imagine checking into a hotel with a robotic dinosaur receptionist behind the front desk. You then hand your bags over to the bell-bot, or trolley robot that takes them to your room. Welcome to the Weird Hotel, or Henn na Hotel in Japanese. — Read the rest
