Japan’s Chiba’s Narita Airport has put some Panasonic’s HOSPI robots to work cleaning up after travelers. The robots are reportedly “collecting used plates from restaurants and food courts in addition to serving drinks and providing directional information to customers.”
This is one of many reports of robots making their way in the hospitality industry. LG recently announced a robot for the Incheon Airport in South Korea. The Hilton McLean Virginia in Washington D.C. has an IBM concierge robot named Connie, and Silicon Valley’s Aloft Cupertino Hotel has a robot that can call an elevator.
The Henn-na Hotel in Japan actually staffed its entire front desk with robots. One of which is a humanoid, the other is bellboy velociraptor dinosaur who speaks English. The robots might not ever take over completely, but we will certainly be seeing a lot more of them in the hospitality industry in the coming years.
