Robots do check-in and check-out at cost-cutting Japan hotel

A female humanoid with blinking lashes speaks Japanese while foreigners have the pleasure of being served by a “vicious-looking dinosaur” which speaks English. Visitors then input commands using a touch screen. Henn na Hotel as it is called in the Japanese was shown to the reporters on Wednesday, which will be open for public from Friday. The face authentication system will register guests through image recognition and let them into their rooms, thereby “liberating you from the hassle of carrying keys and the anxiety of losing it”. According to the wire service, this technology was implemented because robots are not yet very good at finding lost keys.

A giant robotic arm is encased in glass quarters in the corner of the lobby. It lifts one of the boxes stacked into the wall and puts it through a space in the glass, where a guest can place an item in it, to use as a locker.

In the rooms, a lamp-size robot in the shape of a fat pink tulip called Tuly answers simple questions such as, “What time is it?” and “What is the weather tomorrow?” The company is also considering opening robot hotels overseas, Sawada said, without elaborating on possible locations.

Of course not all tasks can be passed on to robots just yet – humans are on hand at the Weird Hotel offering concierge services like booking taxis; and as security guards.

The brains behind this project is Hideo Sawada, CEO of low-priced travel agent HIS. Security cameras are monitored by real humans to ensure guests are safe and to ensure “no one makes off with one of the expensive robots”, AP notes. He is also eager to add other languages, such as Chinese and Korean, to the robots’ vocabulary. He also has plans to open another hotel overseas.

Another robot in the house is a porter robot, which is programmed by your keycard once you check-in. this robot will take your luggage and also guide you to your room. Rooms start at 7,000 yen (£35) per night, which is pretty reasonable in Japan. The robots simply weren’t ready.