Interest
Solar-Powered Bellhops and Android Staff Employed at Japanese Hotel
posted on by Lynzee Loveridge
The Henn-na Hotel (Strange Hote)l at Huis Ten Bosch theme park near Nagasaki is hiring some unique employees starting in July. The "smart hotel" is teaming up with Kokoro, the makers behind the "Actroid" android, Aldebaran Robotics, and SoftBank to hire three uniformed reception androids, four service and porter androids, an industrial arm robot to manage the coat room, and cleaning robots.
Kokoro will provide the receptionist robots. The hotel will also employ Pepper and NAO humanoid robots. Pepper models have already worked as customer service representatives at two SoftBank stores. Henn-na Hotel will also have 10 human staff members on hand.
72 rooms will open to tenants on July 17, with more planned to open next year. Rooms start at a low 7,000 yen (about US$60) thanks to free robot labor and renewable energy equipment. Rooms can be booked via auction.
[Via Network World, The Japan Times]