World's first 'robot hotel' fired over 100 robots from work
Many futurists fear that ever-evolving machines, powered by AI, will take away our jobs. Their concerns are legit, but the recent case of world's first 'robot hotel' firing over 100 bots from work has painted a completely different picture in this regard. These machines were introduced to make things efficient, but, hilariously enough, they created more problems, requiring additional human support. Here's what happened.
Problems at Japan's Henn-na Hotel
Robots promise advanced capabilities, but the exact same machines created ruckus at Japan's Henn-na Hotel. They failed to perform assigned tasks and disturbed guests, creating more work than they could handle. As a result, the hotel, which was forced to bring human staffers to handle their mess, decided to lay off over half of the 243 machines it had, The Wall Street Journal reported.
The hotel holds Guinness World Record
In 2015, Henn na started with some 80 robots due to the shortage of human staffers. Since then, this number has grown, with a bot in place for every task. The hotel even bagged the title of world's first 'robot hotel' in the Guinness Book.
But, apparently, the hotel overdid it
From dancers in the lobby to personal assistant in every room, there was a robot for everything. Naturally, problems started cropping up when they couldn't do the assigned jobs. For instance, the puppy-sized robot dancers in the lobby appeared broken, while the personal assistant failed to answer basic questions and triggered automatically in the middle of the night, disturbing the guests.
Luggage carriers, receptionists all needed human assistance
Among other sacked robots, there were a couple of luggage carriers and velociraptors, and the main concierge of the hotel. The luggage carriers could only reach 24 of 100 rooms, while velociraptors failed to make photocopies at check-in counters and needed additional help from human staffers. As for concierge, it disappointed by not providing answers to queries related to flight schedules or tourist attractions.
That said, robots are far away from hotel management
The hilarious situation clearly shows that robots are not ready for hospitality, at least not yet. Yes, some of the sacked robots had become outdated, but there's still room for improvement in this segment. Essentially, one has to make sure that machines do their jobs well, without creating an additional mess for humans to clean up. Only then, automation will be truly real.
