Age of Robotics: Japanese Hotel Staffed by Robots

This is revolutionary. The service industry will most likely see a widespread adaption of robots.

In Japan, a small hotel opened with a service staff manned by robots.

From the CBS:

The world's first hotel staffed almost entirely by robots is opening its doors full-time to guests this month, but CBS News correspondent Seth Doane has already been able to spend a night in the futuristic facility near the city of Nagasaki.

Doane reports that the opening of a small, low-cost hotel doesn't usually warrant international attention -- even with gimmicks like drones, or the boss arriving via robotic platform.

But the "Henn'na Hotel," which translates to "strange hotel" in Japanese, lives up to its name.

"Please ask me your request, but don't ask me a difficult question because I am a robot," says the dinosaur behind the check-in desk.

The English-speaking dinosaur robot is designed to appeal to kids. Also at reception, an almost creepy humanoid, programmed to speak Japanese, and of course, to bow in respect.

There's a robotic bag-check, even a robot concierge.

Hideo Sawada is the man in charge. Doane asked him if robots, which rely on a set of multiple choice responses to any question asked, could really replace staff like the hotel concierge, who has actually tasted food.

The Kicker… (bold mine)

Sawada says having robots fill jobs can help reduce labor costs by about 70 percent. At the Henn'na, rooms start at only about $80 per night -- a pretty good deal in one of the most expensive countries in the world for travellers.

The hotel boss admitted that the robotic staff "don't come cheap," but said that compared to an annual payroll for human personnel, "they are quite cost-effective... and as (technology) improves I think they will become quite price-competitive."

In technology-crazed Japan, robots are becoming part of everyday life; from commercials, to appearances on TV as modern-day samurai. They're in stores greeting customers, and titillating tourists at Tokyo's famed "robot restaurant."

Hotels were merely the next logical progression.

Investors/entrepreneurs have always been on a lookout for ways around minimizing labor costs. Part of such costs may be from policy based interventions like the minimum wage. Thus proliferation of robots will likely on occur areas with high labor costs.

Watch video here. (hat tip EPJ)

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