Trending science: The robot-run hotel
Imagine staying in a hotel run by robots that can greet you and carry your luggage. This is no dystopian nightmare – in fact it will be a reality this summer when a hotel in Nagasaki, Japan staffed by 10 humanoid robots opens its doors to the public. According to the The Telegraph, the Henn-na Hotel robots will come from robotics company Kokoro, which has been developing ‘actroid,’ or human-like, robots since 2003. Kokoro’s actroids can mimic human behaviours such as breathing and blinking, speak fluent Japanese, Chinese, Korean and English, and know how to make eye contact and respond to body language and tone. Since 2005, Kokoro has introduced three models (or sisters) of actroids – the Actroid-DER1, DER2 and DER3. The actroid that will appear to check guests in at the Henn-na Hotel may look real but she is comprised of cutting edge technology. The actroid is mounted with a basis mechanism called the ‘Pneumatic Pressure System’ or Air Servo System, which uses compressed air as a medium to supply power. Kokoro says that this system has safety advantages compared with other fluid pressure systems such as the oil pressure system and the water pressure system. The Kokoro team also works with robots of a much larger scale such as dinosaurs so the team had to reduce the size of the system to make it small enough to mount into humanoid robots, allowing the actroid to have realistic human proportions and also move in a human-like way. When Henn-na Hotel opens initially there will be some human staff on the beat to handle anything beyond the scope of the robots – or to tend to the robot-adverse guests –, however the hotel soon hopes to have robots performing 90 % of hotel services. Company president Hideo Sawada told the Japan Times that the aim is to make the Henn-na Hotel, the most efficient hotel in the world. Along with the team of robot staff, the hotel itself also boasts some high-tech attractions, according to CNN. This includes facial recognition technology to access rooms and a radiation panel will detect body heat in rooms and adjust the temperature. Solar power and other energy-saving features will be used to reduce operating costs. Japan is particularly keen on this area of robotics, according to the Washington Post. Earlier this week a Tokyo bank unveiled ‘Nao’, a 23-inch tall automaton that speaks 19 languages and can assist customers using an ATM. Tokyo also offers a robot cabaret and the opportunity to get their hair styled by a 24-fingered hair-washing machine!
Countries
Japan